: Holi has come early for the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) with students union president Kanhaiya Kumar being granted interim bail by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.
His friends in the university are all set to welcome him with sweets and holi colours.
As soon as the news about Mr. Kumar’s bail broke, a large number of students, who were at Parliament Street for a march, started hugging and congratulating each other. Slogans like “Jail ka tala toota hai, comrade kanhaiya chhoota hai (doors of jail have broken, Kanhaiya has been released)” filled the air.
The celebrations later continued in the university campus where students sang, danced and raised slogans.
While the larger mood was that of happiness, the students also did not miss a chance to register their opinion against former Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi and HRD Minister Smriti Irani and raised slogans against them.
Cheering for Mr. Kumar, the students repeatedly shouted “hathi ghoda palki jai kanhaiya lal ki” as they marched from Sabarmati Hostel to the administration block inside the campus.
Mushtaq Anjum, from School of Language, said: "I am very happy that Kanhaiya had been granted bail, this definitely calls for a celebration. However I am not happy with the court order’s language.”
Rama Naga, general secretary of JNUSU, said: “We welcome the news …we will take out another march again when Mr. Kumar is released.”
Kanhaiya's hostel-mates cheered the loudest as they joined the rest of their university mates in celebrating Kanhaiya's release.
“We will distribute sweets in the hostel tomorrow. Holi has come early for all of us. We will celebrate Kanhaiya's homecoming with abir and gulal,” said Kanhaiya's hostel-mate, a research scholar at the university.
Kanhaiya will be back to the campus on Thursday. Students have planned another march in the campus with him. They plan to continue their protest in the coming days.
“We are waiting for Kanhaiya to come back to the campus so that we can decide the future course of action for demanding the release of Anirban and Umar,” said Shehla Rashid, JNUSU vice-president.
While Mr. Kumar has been granted bail, Anirban Bhattacharya and Umar Khalid are still in judicial custody in connection with the sedition case.
Students have planned a march on the campus once Kanhaiya Kumar arrives at the varsity
