Kanhaiya Kumar A Potential Star Campaigner In Assembly Elections

New Delhi:

With a blowout speech that established him as a quality orator, Kanhaiya Kumar, 28-year-old Leftie student leader, may be playing in the big league soon. The CPI is considering whether to use Mr Kumar in its campaign for the elections that begin next month in Kerala, West Bengal and three other states. "I am not a neta (politican), I am a student," Mr Kumar said today, a claim that may be seen as somewhat coy.

"Our office is flooded with demands for Kanhaiya for various events all over the country," said D Raja, leader of the CPI, to NDTV, adding that the party will take a decision on whether and how to use Mr Kumar on Monday.  The CPI's student wing in Kerala has organised an event where Mr Kumar will be the keynote speaker.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, "He (Kanhaiya Kumar) is a Left activist. As a Left activist, he will naturally campaign (for the parties). It is often said that youth is not attracted to the Left. What they have to say about yesterday's meeting in JNU?"

The Left can do with some of Mr Kumar's turbocharging. It has been banished to the margin in Bengal by Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress. In Kerala, the Left hopes to displace the Congress-led coalition government that finds itself knee-deep in a robust menu of corruption scandals.

Mr Kumar was released on bail earlier this week after being arrested from the Jawaharlal Nehru University of JNU on charges of sedition.

His case has been presented as a crucible of free speech, with the opposition accusing the government of smearing both Mr Kumar and JNU as anti-national.  Mr Kumar made incendiary remarks at an on-campus rally, the Delhi Police claimed; however, the footage it used to make its accusations has been proclaimed as doctored by forensic experts who were commissioned by the Delhi government to examine the video that was televised by some news channels.

"The Constitution of India is not a video that can be doctored," Mr Kumar quipped today in new evidence of his quotable-quotes skills.

After his release from prison last night, Mr Kumar headed back to his famously Left-leaning university where he is president of the JNU Students Union.
 The nearly hour-long speech he delivered there reiterated what he described as a students' commitment to fighting for "azaadi" or freedom, turning the word into a top twitter trend - but the azaadi he seeks is not from India, Mr Kumar said (referring to the charges leveled by the Delhi Police), but from corruption, poverty and social injustices within the country.  He also dealt a verbal smackdown of the government, singling out Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Education Minister Smriti Irani for trying to crush criticism and dissent.  

Leaders like Sitaram Yechury of the Left and KC Tyagi of the Janata Dal-United are planning to meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tomorrow to thank him for commissioning the inquiry that found Mr Kumar's speech had been spliced and diced to misrepresent his remarks. Mr Kejriwal himself tweeted a laundry list of the "azaadi" that his government wants - in particular from the alleged tyranny of the central government.