Kanhaiya Kumar with CPI's student front AISA in Kolkata. (Press Trust of India photo)
For the first time since he was charged with sedition in February, Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Kanhaiya Kumar came to Kolkata on Thursday to a rousing reception by the CPI's student front, AISA. But activists of ABVP, student body affiliated to the BJP, hurled eggs and bricks as he was escorted into the venue where he was to address a convention.
One policeman was injured in the brick batting. ABVP activists shouted slogans calling Kanhaiya Kumar a traitor. There were about 30 odd activists who the police rounded up and took away in prison vans.
Inside the venue, Mahajati Sadan, Kanhaiya Kumar didn't mince words either. "What's the difference between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi? Modi is a little thinner than Trump, that's all," he said.
Besides attacking the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, Kanhaiya Kumar also attacked the Left. "Some leaders are saying the BJP is not fascist, only authoritarian," he said, referring to a debate in the CPM on the issue. He appealed to Left activists to unite and fight against fascist forces.
"Singur was a mistake, the way the land was acquired from farmers," he said. "Farmers want to give land for industry in which they will be treated as stakeholders and not durwans. Land must be acquired from farmers with their consent."
On Kashmir, Kanhaiya Kumar said, "Kashmir is an integral part of India. Burhan Wani is not Che Guevara. The government must talk to all stakeholders, including separatists. There has to be a political solution to Kashmir. BJP wants to keep the Kashmir issue alive so people don't talk about poverty."
Asked about his plans to join politics, the student leader said, "I am now focusing on my PhD. I think that I must do justice to the educational opportunity I have got. I am the first learner in my family, in my village. I owe it to them to first finish my studies."
Among those who attended the convention were many senior citizens too who shouted 'azadi' when Kanhaiya Kumar raised his trademark slogans at the end of his speech.