By: Keyur Seta

Despite suffering terrible loses in the Delhi and Bihar Elections, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) doesn’t seem to have learnt any lessons. Their latest mistake occured in the ongoing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) saga. By labeling charges of sedition on the students, including the JNU students’ union leader Kanhaiya Kumar, they have highlighted their desperation.

In my opinion, it is blasphemous to support terrorists like Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat, which the JNU students did, as is evident from the posters of their ‘event’. But charges of sedition are applicable only when a person incites a mob to indulge in violence. Exactly due to this, the Delhi Police recently faced embarrassment from the Delhi High Court when the bench asked, “Do you even know the meaning of sedition?” (Read more about the meaning of sedition HERE.)

But what has hurt the government the most its own action of doctoring videos of JNU students’ protest, which quite a few news channels played without checking its authenticity. A senior member of a news channel also resigned after knowing about the tampering of videos, which his channel played. (Know more about the videos HERE). This clearly amounts to villainous tactics to defeat someone. In simple terms, it’s disgraceful.

However, this has given rise to a confusing situation in India. Kanhaiya is been hailed as the true hero of the nation after getting bailed. In opposing BJP and the Right Wing’s actions, people are even hailing Kanhaiya as the only savior of India, just on the basis of a speech.

Democracy allows us to support or oppose anyone. Personally, I am impressed to see someone fearlessly opposing and challenging the negative tactics of the Right Wing. But it is also advisable to look deeper and not get carried away by someone’s oratory skills. In today’s day and age, when we have been fooled often by those heroic speeches, the least we should do is delve deeper and look beyond those fiery words and punch-lines.

The following is my personal opinion on Kanhaiya’s speech:-

– Kanhaiya did raise important issues. But that doesn’t change the fact that he and his fellow students supported Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat. In fact, if you try remembering, this entire saga started off when the JNU students union decided to hold an event in support of Afzal and Maqbool in, what they called, a ‘cultural’ program. It’s clearly mentioned in the posters. Seriously, how justifiable it is to support people sympathetic towards convicted terrorists?

– Kanhaiya and his supporters are clearly advocating leftist propaganda. This is evident from slogans like “Lal Salaam” and “Red Salute”, which they shout during every interaction. For the uninitiated, Leftist ideology can also be dangerous. So, if you are against the Right Wing but ready to support someone advocating Leftist ideology, you need to do some serious research. Plus, in India the Left has gone through a downfall. They hardly have any ground left currently.

– For your information, Kanhaiya is the leader of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), which is the students’ wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

– Lastly, it clearly seemed that Kanhaiya was putting on a show, just like numerous other politicians. The points he raised, his manner of making fun of his opponents, his peculiar tone and gestures clearly made him look like a wannabe politician. It didn’t appear spontaneous even a bit. For the uninitiated, he has already been approached to campaign for the CPI in the upcoming elections this year.

The intention behind this post is not to force anyone to change his or her opinion. It is just an advice to know the whole picture before hailing someone as a National Hero, which is a very precious title.

WATCH the entire Kanhaiya Azadi speech: