After the initial news about the chargesheet filed there were expected outbursts from the ‘Liberal’ lobby and chest thumping from the ‘rightist. ‘Both of the groups completely ignoring the fundamental question –‘why was the charge sheet filed now?’ (Don’t take it as a political remark) what I mean is why the extreme delay by the officials to file the chargesheet? A simple explanation given by the authorities was – some of the alleged students were from the Kashmir valley and after the Burhan Wani incident, the whole valley was closed and there was absolutely no access to this students, thus the delay. The argument itself is baseless and a blatant lie. The incident took place on the night of 9^th February followed many arrests and bails. Kanhaiya was given bail by the courts on the lack of conclusive evidence by the police. The matter became worse after several news channels allegedly broadcasted doctored videos (as if it was uncommon to Indian media.) Burhan Wani was encountered on July 8th, Kanhaiya was given bail on March 6, thus the Police had ample time to actually gather evidence and file a chargesheet. The time for filing a chargesheet by an investigating officer according to S. 167(2) and S.173 is between 60-90 days after which the person in judicial custody can be granted bail. The Police could have followed this timeline and record the statements from the Kashmiri Students.

The authorities also stated that the Kashmiri Students had become untraceable in Kashmir after the close down in the valley. I am still unable to comprehend the meaning of the word ‘untraceable’ used by the authorities. The Police could’ve easily A) co-ordinated with the J&K Police and traced down the students, in the worst case scenario if there was a slightest suspicion that these students have become ‘untraceable’ willfully then it could give the police serious leverage as then it becomes the case of obstruction of justice and the police could easily obtain an arrest warrant to grab a hold of them and record their statements. This boils down to two possible conclusions. The first one is the police had handled the case with absolute lethargy because there was political influence to do so. The second being that police treated this case just as it treats all the other cases. The latter conclusion doesn’t stand for many reasons.

This was a highly politicized case and the ruling party drilled as much as it could to extract a political mileage which actually made Kanhaiya and his colleagues ‘protectors of liberty and torch bearers of freedom’ overnight. Now it is a subject of different write-up about how Kanhaiya and Khalid are absolutely the leaders India doesn’t need, but coming back. The nature of the case and the amount of parallel events this single case had generated is huge and extremely political, thus there were expectations from the investigators by the common people and more from their political masters. Another very important aspect being this case was handled by ‘Anti-terrorism cell’ of the Police which again drags it into the evergreen never ending ‘national vs anti-national’ debate. Thus the second conclusion is hard to believe. Let us dwell on the first conclusion and discuss why handling of the Kanhaiya Case has back-fired on the ruling party. I have already stated why there was absolute lethargy from the authorities to handle this case, but the question is why? Even if it was wished by their political masters.

The ruling party took enough time through news-channel debates, rallies and other social media platforms to vilify the Kumar-Khalid duo. There was a point where the nation was convinced that the duo actually had raised or helped/encouraged to raise such slogans. But the masters thought there was more political mileage in the case if it was stretched ahead and it is where they went wrong. The Government failed to understand that what people wanted was ‘Justice’ and the issue never actually succeeded in distracting the people from the ground reality, people were from the beginning convinced that whether Kanhaiya was National or Anti-National it was not what Modi had promised them before 2014 and were definitely not ‘Acche din.’

The Opposition parties and the liberal lobby was quick enough to come to the Aid of the ‘poor and innocent JNU students’ and made them the poster boys of the fight against (alleged) state oppression and authoritative rule. Hardik and Jignesh also the overnight ‘messihas’ joined the former duo and had ample of support from the opposition and the anti-Modi lobby. They were ferried over the nation and were invited as guest speakers to many unrelated and irrelevant marches and protests but they actually went there because all they required was footage time and entry into the ‘Great Indian Political Circus.’ In no time Kanhaiya was picked up into the National Council of CPI (That is all they wanted). After they got recognition and popularity they ran exactly on the same narrative that Mr. Modi used in 2014 and surprisingly still uses. Both have them don’t come from big fat political families, both of them come from a poor background, both of them criticized the policies of the current government on merit. The only difference is that Kanhaiya till now has not aggressively advocated Mandir-Masjid Politics, till now he has more frequently distinguished between ‘Ameer and Garib’ (Mostly!) But we all have seen that only religion has never won any party the baton to the treasury benches unless coupled with other narratives like ‘Gareebi Hatao’ or ‘Ache Din.’ So both of them talk about progress, one in the language of ‘Development’ and the other in ‘Freedom’ or ‘Azaadi.’ After months of touring and active presence in many election campaigns coupled with absence of any police report or chargesheet made the public a little attentive to what Kanhaiya said. Now the side government was constantly failing to answer Kanhaiya’s (mostly relevant) questions was not ‘You are anti-national, so you don’t get right to criticize the Government.’(We all have seen Sambit, haven’t we?). It is at this point where people actually accepted Kanhaiya as a legitimate critic of the government, partially forgetting ‘The incident.’

After months of touring and active presence in many election campaigns coupled with absence of any police report or chargesheet made the public a little attentive to what Kanhaiya said. Now the side government was constantly failing to answer Kanhaiya’s (mostly relevant) questions was not ‘You are anti-national, so you don’t get right to criticize the Government.’(We all have seen Sambit, haven’t we?). It is at this point where people actually accepted Kanhaiya as a legitimate critic of the government, partially forgetting ‘The incident.’

Now the chargesheet has been filed and frankly no one gives a damn, because now Kanhaiya is seen in line with all the political class which have some or the other charges (some charges on some politicians ARE very serious in nature just like Kanhaiya) against them.

Until Next time then

After months of touring and active presence in many election campaigns coupled with absence of any police report or chargesheet made the public a little attentive to what Kanhaiya said. Now the side government was constantly failing to answer Kanhaiya’s (mostly relevant) questions was not ‘You are anti-national, so you don’t get right to criticize the Government.’(We all have seen Sambit, haven’t we?). It is at this point where people actually accepted Kanhaiya as a legitimate critic of the government, partially forgetting ‘The incident.’

Now the chargesheet has been filed and frankly no one gives a damn, because now Kanhaiya is seen in line with all the political class which have some or the other charges (some charges on some politicians ARE very serious in nature just like Kanhaiya) against them.

Until Next time then