Kanhaiya Kumar’s Remarks On Army Trigger New Complaint By BJP Youth Wing

JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a sedition case, is facing ire of the BJP’s youth wing for his remarks on the security forces in Kashmir.

Speaking on the Armed Forces Special Powers Act or AFSPA, Kanhaiya said, “No matter how much you try to stop us, we will speak up against human rights violations. We will raise our voice against AFSPA. While we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk about the fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel.”

Kanhaiya was addressing students at a late night march on the eve of International Women’s Day on Wednesday. While he spoke of atrocities against women with examples of the war in Rwanda, he added, “You take example of Gujarat, women were not just killed but were raped first.”

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha has filed a complaint in Vasant Vihar police station against Kanhaiya and JNU professor Nivedita Menon, saying they made “anti-national” statements.

“Despite the submission of an undertaking before court, Kanhaiya has yet again addressed a gathering of students and uttered poisonous words against the Indian Army, labelling them as rapists of Kashmiri Women,” a BJYM statement said.

A senior police officer said the matter was being looked into, but added that “no FIR has been registered yet”.

“JNU professor Nivedita Menon has been spewing hatred against the Indian Armed Forces in public meetings as well,” the statement said, adding, “She made statements like it is recognized worldwide that India is illegally occupying Kashmir.”

Ms Menon, who teaches at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory at the School of International Studies at JNU however said, “I don’t believe anything I said was anti-national”.

In Kanhaiya’s defence, the All India Students Federation (AISF) said that his remarks were “in context of atrocities on women worldwide and not just in Kashmir,” and that, “he in no way meant to demean the Army or any other force and he clarified that in his speech too.”

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad or ABVP affiliated to the BJP, which was the first to raise an alarm over the February 9 event in JNU, issued a statement saying, “The judge in her order also advised Kanhaiya to not forget the contribution of those sacrificing lives on borders. His statement is an attack on Indian Army”.

Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 in a sedition case over an event on campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. He was granted an interim bail for six months by Delhi High Court last week.