Senior CPI leader D. Raja on Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and sought the immediate release of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar, now in judicial custody.
“I met the Home Minister today and demanded that the JNUSU president, who has been arrested and booked on sedition charges, be released forthwith unconditionally. All charges against him must be withdrawn. I also raised the issue at the all-party meeting convened by the Prime Minister, asking him to intervene,” said the Rajya Sabha member.
Terming the police action against JNU students outrageous, Mr. Raja said the issue would be raised in Parliament during the upcoming Budget Session.
“Should I agree to what RSS says? Who are they to define freedom of speech? They should act in accordance with the Indian Constitution given to us by Dr. Ambedkar. They speak about Hindu Rashtra. Is it freedom of speech? It is they who should be accused of being anti-constitutional and anti-national.”
THe CPI leader said the action against JNU students was an attack on right to freedom of speech and expression.
Defending his daughter, unit president of All-India Students Federation in JNU who was accused of being a part of a gathering where some participants allegedly raised anti-India slogans, Dr. Raja said the charges were baseless.
“My daughter is a student there and she is also an activist,” he said.
Mr. Raja said universities, which are centres of learning, debate and ideas and pursuit of knowledge, are being targeted with a design to impose an agenda.
