 "Kanhaiya Kumar meets Rahul Gandhi")
Speaking to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union president Kanhaiya Kumar along with a delegation of the All India Students Federation (AISF) members at his Tughlak Lane residence on Tuesday, Gandhi said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government’s action against Kumar on sedition charges was not an isolated incident. The Congress leader said it was a systematic assault beginning with the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle at Indian Institute of Technology -Madras, then Film and Television Institute of India - Pune, Hyderabad Central University, Allahabad university and the latest being JNU.
Saiyad Wali Ullah Qadri, president of the Left-backed AISF, said Kumar had sought a meeting with Gandhi to thank him for his support during his arrest. Gandhi, in turn, assured them that he would continue to support students whenever the government attempted to muzzle their voices, Qadri added.
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Kumar is out on a six-month interim bail following his arrest by the Delhi Police over a controversial event held on JNU campus allegedly to mark the memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. Among the others who were present at the hour-long meeting with Gandhi included National Students’ Union of India chief Roji M John. “We may have political and ideological differences with these organisations, but we have been rendering issue-based support to Left-backed organisations whenever there have been attempts by the ruling government to clamp down on campuses to impose their fascist ideology,” John said.
Kumar also apprised Gandhi of the long-standing agitation against University Grants Commission’s decision to cut down on student scholarships and how an inquiry committee was dragging its feet in submitting its report in the matter.
To “expose the government’s machinations”, student organisations plan to organise a national programme bringing together students who had been ‘victimised’ by the authorities and where the government was infringing upon the autonomy of institutions.
Tweeting about the meeting from his official handle, Gandhi said: “Met a delegation of student leaders from AISF and JNUSU president.”
Gandhi had visited the JNU campus on February 13, a day after Kumar was arrested, and in an all-out attack on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, Gandhi had drawn parallels with the Nazi regime of Hitler, accusing the Modi government of suppressing students' voice.
The student leaders said they would continue engaging with Gandhi, adding that this was purely issue-based and not for any electoral tie-ups.