NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University burst into joy, the students and the faculty beside themselves with relief, as news that Kanhaiya Kumar had got bail spread. Slogans rent the air, with the ABVP standing isolated in a sea of students who had sunk all political differences over the past days to battle for justice.
The narrative against the JNU Students Union President had been built by the Delhi Police, propagated by certain media channels, defended and upheld by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and others in government, and turned into a political campaign by a section of lawyers who took law into their own hands in the Patiala courts and beat up students, journalists and Kanhaiya himself when he was brought to the courts for a hearing.
Kanhaiya’s brother Mani,clearly very relieved claimed the two words tweeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in appreciation of HRD Minister Smriti Irani: Satyamev Jayate.
So where were the protagonists of the narrative insisting that Kanhaiya Kumar was guilty of sedition when the High Court gave him bail for six months with a Rs 10,000 surety:
TV News Channels: Times Now did not even report the bail. Always congratulating itself for being ahead of the news, this channel did not even scroll, or lightly mention that the student whose ‘seditious’ activities it had covered day and night was freed on bail. It was as if the bail was not worth a mention even, despite having spent days airing morphed videos, and building a case against Kanhaiya for sedition. News X played down the news but reported it although the first news bulletin after the bail again referred to Kanhaiya being arrested for sedition for shouting anti-India slogans. No ‘alleged’ even now. Zee News covered it as a headline with details.
Police: The new Police Chief was before the cameras trying to make the best of a humiliating situation. The best as he offered it, was that the bail was for six months, that no one but the police was authorised to scrutinise the video evidence (reference to the Delhi government probe), and that the investigation was still on. The police had claimed that it had enough evidence against Kanhaiya but clearly it was not sufficient to deny him bail on what were very serious charges. The police had stood by as Kanhaiya was beaten inside the court by alleged lawyers.
Home Minister: Rajnath Singh had linked the arrest with a Hafiz Saeed tweet. Saeed is the mentor of the terrorist group Lashkar e Tayaba with the reference by the senior minister drawing a link about which subsequently there was no evidence. The Twitter handle was found to be fake and the government had to suffer the ignominy of a denial by Saeed from Pakistan, without being able to effectively counter it. After the bail Singh was heard telling reporters that he did not want to comment on the ruling by the court.
Bharatiya Janata Party: There is a Hindi saying Khisiyani billi khamba noche with the party that had reached high decibels branding dissent as criminal, and advocating strong action against JNU as the “den” of “anti-nationals’ having little to say after the courts decision. Wait for the investigation was the bestit could offer, at least in the first few hours, with Ishrat Jehan becoming the khamba.