Youth hurls shoe at Kanhaiya

Hyderabad: Chaos prevailed at a meeting addressed by JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar here on Thursday after a slogan-shouting youth flung shoes at the speaker accusing him of being 'anti-national'.The incident occurred at Sundarayya Vignan Kendram 30 minutes into the programme after senior journalist Mallepalli Lakshmaiah introduced Kanhaiya to a gathering of intellectuals and student union leaders from various organisations.

As soon as Kanhaiya began his address on constitutional rights, a young man sitting among the audience in the third row stood up, raised slogans against Kanhaiya and hurled a pair of shoes at him on the dais. It, however, missed the target.

The protestor questioned why Kanhaiya, who was allegedly supporting terrorists like Afzal Guru, is being allowed to share the stage with learned people. He raised slogans such as ‘Kanhaiya go back’ and ‘anti-nationals like Kanhaiya should not be allowed to speak'.

Activists of All-India Students Federation (AISF) and others among the audience caught hold of the young man and roughed him even as Kanhaiya Kumar appealed to the audience to show restraint. Police intervened and took away the youth and his friend to the Chikkadpally police station. The attackers have been identified as Telangana Gau Raksha Dal state president Anantharam Naresh Kumar and another member Pavan Reddy.

Continuing with his speech, Kanhaiya said that RSS detractors think that if they do anything to him, they would be able to stop him. "Kuch bhi kar lo, hum darne wale nahin hai," he said and explained how JNU students politely sought an explanation from a person who slapped him inside the university in front of hundreds of his supporters. "I want to know at whose behest they are resorting to such acts... One day you will know you are throwing a shoe at yourself," he said.

"Such incidents do not matter to me. Do whatever you want to do. I am not the one to get scared. My way is the Gandhian way," he said. He said he will respect the nationalism enshrined in the Constitution and not what the BJP government defines it to be. "The youth of this country constitute more than 55 per cent of the population and they would all have to raise slogans of Jai Jawan Jai Kisan and Jai Constitution and not the slogans being promoted by the present rulers.

Kanhaiya alleged that the BJP government did not like Swami Vivekananda as it has not named a single scheme after him, but only after RSS ideologues. He reminded that even Swami Vivekananda was not in favour of talking about religion in front of the poor people who struggle to feed themselves. "But this government is only talking about religion and nothing else," the student leader said.

Kanhaiya said that he believes in Gandhism and the Constitution written by B R Ambedkar and at the same time the organisation would follow all the leaders from different spheres who contributed to the country. "My fight against divisive forces will continue," he said, and concluded his speech by raising slogans against discrimination.

Communist Party of India general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar, national secretary K Narayana, Telangana state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy, CPM state secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram, educationist Chukka Ramaiah, Progressive Organisation for Women V Sandhya and others participated in the seminar.

Earlier on the day, Kanhaiya attended a press conference at AITUC office in Himayatnagar and reiterated his commitment to the cause of the downtrodden and opposed exploitation by vested interests across the country. Universities should promote 'critical thinking', but are under attack, he said, citing examples of FTII, Aligarh University, HCU and JNU. Kanhaiya opined that the campuses are becoming war zones. The development agenda of NDA government has taken a back seat during the last two years of its rule, he alleged.

When asked about the political campaign on behalf of left parties in the forthcoming elections in five states, Kanhaiya said he would not campaign in any of the elections. Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on charges of sedition last month after anti-national slogans were allegedly raised during a meeting organised in memory of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on JNU campus in New Delhi.

Police did not allow him to enter the University of Hyderabad on Wednesday. He wanted to address students and pay tributes to Rohith Vemula, a research scholar who committed suicide in January.