Ex-JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar breathes fire on right-wing groups

Alleging an "atmosphere of fear" in the country, former Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar said right-wing Hindutva groups like the Sanatan Sanstha did not represent the fringe but were "organised units" which "terrorised" dissenting voices.

Stressing on like-minded parties forming a united front to protect Constitutional values based on a common minimum program (CMP), Kumar said he was open to contest the Lok Sabha elections, but could not say if he would fight in 2019.

Speaking at the Mumbai Press Club on Wednesday, Kumar said groups like the Sanstha, whose members have been accused of allegedly murdering rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Govind Pansare, were labelled as the fringe to protect the main accused.

Kumar, who is a CPI national council member, said one of the right-wing activists arrested recently was involved in opposing his program at Chembur. Questioning the failure of agencies to track down the culprits years after the murders, Kumar said it was not the Sanstha that was in the government and controlled the police, but the BJP.

"They are like Ravana, who had 10 heads. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji will say something and a leader (of the BJP) will say something else," he alleged, adding Modi followed abusive Twitter handles. Referring to the recent arms hauls in Maharashtra, including that from Nalasopara, Kumar alleged these could have been used against dissenting voices and sections like the poor, minorities, farmers Dalits, youth and intellectuals.

Kumar said the attack on his fellow student activist Umar Khalid in a high-security area in Delhi was aimed at sending a message to those fighting the government and added those involved in attacks on him (Kumar) were found to have links with the BJP.

"Our responsibility is not just opposing Modi but protecting the Constitution. The Constitution has to be protected by not one party, but a joint front," said Kumar. He added that a CMP be based on fundamental issues like the problems of farmers, lack of jobs for educated youth and economic disparities and charged if the Constitution was not saved, it would be replaced by the 'Manusmruti.'

"Parties that believe in Constitutional principles must come together. They must fight a political battle for this and also protect the cultural diversity and strengthen democratic values of the country," the CPI leader explained while calling the prevailing condition in the country "an undeclared emergency."

Stressing on the need for issue-based politics, Kumar charged that attackers had graduated from trolling people online to assaulting them in their homes. "Those against the government are being terrorised. They are being attacked to send a message to society that they cannot oppose it," he added.

Referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi's statement that the firing by the Tamil Nadu police on those protesting a copper plant at Toothukudi as "state-sponsored terrorism," Kumar said similar incidents had taken place during Congress regimes in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. "We can only be hopeful. Let's presume they may not stand up to this promise. Even Modiji did not. He promised us acche din, but what did we get?" he added.