Welcoming the bail granted to JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, Opposition parties today called it the first victory in a "long drawn battle" against the BJP government at the Centre and alleged that he was arrested on "false charge" of sedition for being "anti-RSS".
The Opposition had mounted a shrill attack on the government following Kumar's arrest three weeks ago, alleging that slapping of sedition charge against him was an attempt to crush dissent by the ruling establishment.
"He should not have been arrested in the first place. The sedition charges were absolutely and completely unwarranted. This is misuse of the instrumentality of the state.
"According to the government if anybody is against BJP or RSS he or she is anti-national. That is why this boy was arrested - for not being anti-national but anti-BJP," Congress leader Manish Tewari said.
The Left parties hailed the bail and said if the charges against Kumar had credibility, he would not have been granted the relief.
"This is the first victory in a long drawn battle, the charges on Kanhaiya Kumar are false. He has been targeted like everyone is for raising their voice against the government," CPI leader D Raja said.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, "If sedition case was right he wouldn't have got interim bail. This shows that there was definitely some conspiracy."
Wondering whether charges against Kumar was based on "doctored video", the CPI(M) leader said the Modi government had "wasted" so much energy in the case.
AAP also welcomed Kumar's bail.
"Now question is who raised slogans & why Police failed to arrest them? World is laughing at the way Central Govt & BJP leaders handled it," Delhi Minister and AAP leader Kapil Mishra tweeted.
Responding to Kumar's bail, BJP's Shaina NC said the issue was never about him but about anti-India sloganeering.
"The court has given a verdict suggesting that yes we grant him bail on a surety of Rs 10,000 and we are absolutely okay with it. The issue has never been about Kanhaiya or any political ideology but the contention was about anti-India sloganeering," she told reporters.
Kumar was arrested on February 12 in a sedition case in connection with an event on campus commemorating the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti- national slogans were allegedly raised.
He was today granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court which said he has to cooperate in the ongoing investigation and has to present himself before the investigators as and when required.
