Former JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar who is charge-sheeted by the Delhi police, in the sedition case of 2016, says the case is politically motivated, and the charge-sheet is timed to match the election season. In an interview to Barkha Datt for The Week he asks, “If they really were so nationalist, why have they dragged their feet on this case for so long?” he added, “Now, 90 days before elections, they are trying to act against us.”
Kumar reiterated that the charges against him are false. He said, “Anchors of certain television channels, who give out certificates of nationalism, have run a malicious campaign against us. Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi he said, “Firstly, we are now liberated from a media trial; we will get a proper judicial trial. And, secondly, the trial will expose them. So, thank you.”
Expressing confidence about receiving justice and being acquitted, he said, “Absolutely. I have full faith in our country’s courts.”
On the question of video evidence that shows you raising anti-India slogans, Kanhaiya Kumar said, “I know there is no authentic video that shows any such thing. They tried to use reports of this video even on JNU campus to take action against us and have us thrown out. They even tried to use this to stop me from completing my PhD. None of it worked. I have completed my thesis. The district magistrate who conducted the inquiry for the Delhi government clearly said that there was no evidence to support the allegations in [the statements of] witnesses or the videos produced.”
On the question of television anchors and shows referring to him as the tukde tukde gang, Kanhaiya maintained, “I find this description ridiculous. Those who live on the tukdes [breadcrumbs] of the Modi government are calling us tukde tukde gang. These are phrases coined by [a section of] media that is so supplicant to power, and literally lives off the crumbs thrown to it by the government.”