Welcoming the bail granted to JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, the Opposition parties on Wednesday 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 Mr Kumar’s arrest three weeks ago, alleging that slapping of sedition charges 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 the BJP or the 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 Mr 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 Mr Kumar was based on “doctored video”, the CPI(M) leader said the Modi government had “wasted” so much energy in the case. The AAP also welcomed Mr 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 Mr Kumar’s bail, BJP’s Shaina NC said the issue was never about him, but about anti-India sloganeering.
Mr Kumar was granted interim bail for six months by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.
