Kanhaiya Kumar, the PhD aspirant from Barauni and media darling from JNU, opens up on his new book, the government and student politics
Kanhaiya Kumar addresses students and activists at Jawahar Lal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. Pic/AFP
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This February, India got its most famous student politician. Till then, the reluctant celebrity was busy leading the students’ union of Jawaharlal Nehru University in obscurity (as is the norm) to the world outside. But on February 6, after controversial slogans were allegedly made in the campus, a case of sedition was built on three students of the university and they were arrested.
After this, people in lawyer’s robes assaulted the university faculty members, journalists and students outside a New Delhi court and the term, anti-national became a thing. Out on bail in March, the students returned to the campus and gave speeches. The first speech (streamed live) reached more people possibly than any previous JNU speech. It made front-page headlines, primetime television, trended on social media for weeks and Kanhaiya Kumar arrived.
The boy who made headlines
Till now, opinion on Kumar is divided with extremes of the pole often bordering on the ridiculous. While some fear that he is conspiring to break the country into parts from the dark alleys of JNU, others pin their hopes of revival of the deflated Left parties of India on him. Kumar is tired of dismissing such speculations and possibly to make things easy, he has put down his thoughts, aspirations and life till now in the book, From Bihar To Tihar (Juggernaut Books).
But we ask him again, via a Skype interview, what his immediate plans are as he’s been missing from the news for a while. “This is the last year of my PhD; there is backbreaking amount of writing left to do,” he says. We pause and he laughs and says, “If you are asking about my political ambitions, I have no aspiration to take part in the mainstream electoral politics right now.” After all this, why not? One wonders, if it is a calculated move to keep his name away from the muck that the word politics has come to be associated with. “I have never said that I will not be actively taking part in politics. I am in politics even now and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that,” he clarifies.
After the debate on whether there is anything wrong with that heated up earlier this year, BJP minister Venkaiah Naidu made a clear statement against students engaging in politics and many others echoed. But Kanhiaya smiles again.
“Venkaiah Naidu was a part of a student organisation. Heads of some news channels, which are going gung-ho against student politics, were also student leaders. So, it is fine if they do it or anyone becomes a part of their parties but not any other kind of politics,” he explains.
But what is his take? “We are being political even when we think we are not. And most often when we think we are not doing anything, we are supporting the establishment that has little will to change things for the better by itself. Not being a part of politics is as impossible as television without advertisements,” he explains.
Kumar during a public meeting in Mumbai in April this year. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
Politics is not the only allegation against the man, who started his journey from a home in a village near Barauni, and a life so humble that to afford a single set of school uniform for him was a strain on his family. It is alleged that he is against the nation and as JNU has become a “breeding ground” for people like him, there have been demands to shut the university itself. Kanhaiya is not keen on countering the spread of such theories.
The real deal
“Instead, we have to expose the people who are spreading such rubbish. What their agenda is and who they are. The claims are hollow and absurd anyway,” he says. But what agenda? “When a government is unable to keep its promises on things that matter, like employment, food and other such basics, it whips up abstract issues around religion and nation. It is just to distract from the real things,” he says.
The PhD student, who had at one point wanted to be an engineer, but changed tracks as it was too expensive, was a fan of Munshi Premchand while growing-up. He didn’t like Western fairytales as he could not relate to them. He liked his life in JNU, an experience which some students describe as a fairytale. In fact, he does talk about the romantic relationships of his friends in the campus where it is said that if you were not involved in politics, studied hard and fell in love, you missed out. Did he? This time he guffaws. “There has not been any such development in my life,” he says.
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