This is a direct fight against dictatorship: Kanhaiya Kumar says Modi govt targetting univs across India

New Delhi: In fresh attack on the NDA government, JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday vowed to wage a “direct fight” against “dictatorship” as he accused it of targeting universities across the country and sought support of all democratic forces it was about saving the country. He said those talking about Constitution should allow law to take its own course in the sedition case in which he as well as JNU PhD scholars Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested, noting delivering justice on street was not acceptable. “You may not agree with my politics. It is not about JNU only. The universities are being attacked across the country. Now our fight is direct against dictatorship. All democratic people will have to come together. This unity is required in the country,” he said at the India Today conclave here. [caption id=“attachment_2684480” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Students celebrate at JNU Campus in New Delhi after Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday granted six-month interim bail to JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, slapped with sedition charges. PTI[/caption] Kanhaiya said while the question confronting the people today was about saving the country, the whole JNU episode was given a national versus anti-national spin. “The whole episode has been portrayed as a case of national versus anti-national. The job of a patriot is not to use a black law like sedition against people of the country, against youngsters and students. You are behaving with them in a way as if you have become the British and we are the soldiers of Bhagat Singh. If you don’t hesitate to use a black law like sedition, then we don’t have any problem in becoming the sepoys of Bhagat Singh,” he said. Speaking on the occasion, JNUSU Vice President Shela Rashid said the very idea of India which stands for accommodation and acceptance is under threat. “Since politics decides our future, we will decide our own politics. Universities are democratic places. We need to protect them from RSS,” she said. During her short but passionate address, Shela, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, said she grew up watching a very violent image of India but JNU gave her the democratic space. She said the ABVP raises very violent slogans as well which are specially directed at women but students largely do not complain against them respecting the spirit of free speech. “We do not want to see you behind the bars,” she said looking at ABVP’s JNU leader Saurabh Sharma who was also part of the discussion. She said since the NDA government came to power, the ABVP has been misusing the political power to frame students. Earlier, Kanhaiya said the sedition law must be scrapped. Welcoming bail granted to Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, he said all parties and people supporting democracy must come forward to demand abolishing the British-era law. PTI