Two men show black flag to JNU’s Kanhaiya in Patna, beaten up

Supporters of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student leader Kanhaiya Kumar assaulted two youth for showing him black flags when he was addressing a gathering in the Bihar capital on Sunday.

Kumar, whose family is from Begusarai district of Bihar, appealed to volunteers of the All India Students Federation (AISF) and All India Youth Federation (AIYF) to let the two protesters go but his request went unheeded.

The crowd kicked them out and handed them over to police stationed at the venue, the SK Memorial Hall in Patna.

Kumar, who was arrested for sedition in February after an event in JNU where anti-national slogans were shouted, said his detractors should wave the Tricolour if they want to convert him into a patriot.

He is out on bail but facing public attacks for the JNU event on Kashmiri separatist Afzal Guru, who was hanged for the 2001 attack on Parliament. The student leader was offloaded from a Pune-bound Jet Airlines flight at Mumbai airport on April 25 after a fight with a co-passenger, whom he accused of trying to strangle him.

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He said these protesters considered him anti-national for attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “My attacks on the PM for his failure to fulfill his promises of providing jobs and depositing money in people’s accounts will pain the Modi-worshippers,” he told the gathering.

He said such people saw only condoms or sex rackets in JNU but were blind to contributions of its teachers and alumni in nation-building.

“We are not wasting public money. People’s money is wasted on suits worth lakhs, by disrupting Parliament and on corporate individuals and families that get crores in loans,” he said.

His praise for the university contrasts the protest he had started after the JNU authorities on Monday imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him and rusticated three other students for their role at the February event.

Kumar said his fight is against those who defamed the Constitution and sought to divide the nation on basis of gender, religion, colour and caste. Also, he dispelled rumours of joining a political party.

Read: JNU rusticates Umar, Anirban for a semester; Kanhaiya fined Rs 10,000

“I am no politician. I am a research student who aspires to be a teacher. I fight for freedom, for our farmers, our labourers and for a common education system that ensures everyone receives unbiased, quality education,” the PhD student said.

“Stop following any Kanhaiya Kumar or Modi. Apply your own logic and arguments to change society for the better.”

Kumar is on a two-day tour of his home state and met chief minister Nitish Kumar as well as RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav over the weekend.