Ex-JNU student and Delhi University Assistant Professor, Kamlesh Narwana, is not happy with the way JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar has become the symbol of a country-wide student movement and a hero. In a scathing open letter to Kanhaiya, whom she declares is a ‘false revolutionary’, she says she is addressing the student community of JNU that is “hell bent on portraying Kanhaiya as the Bhagat Singh of this century.”
She describes an “ugly encounter” with Kanhaiya, whom she allegedly found urinating on a road in the JNU campus in June, last year. She claims that when she objected, Kanhaiya shouted at her, threatening her with dire consequences and suggested that she seek psychiatric help. Narwana filed a complaint against him at the JNU Proctor Office.
After the enquiry, Kanhaiya was found guilty of behaviour “unbecoming of a JNU student” and was fined Rs 3,000.
Meanwhile, the All India Students Federation (AISF) to which Kanhaiya belongs, said in a statement “talk about public urination and threatening are being spread to malign Kanhaiya’s image. He had a verbal argument with the girl following which she had registered a complaint”. It adds,
When people raised concerns about the fact that the letter from the Proctor was unsigned, she said that she was given a print out of the original office order from proctor office at her special request. The original signed version is on display in all concerned JNU offices and the veracity of the document can be checked with the Proctor of the JNU office.
Disclaiming that her association with JNU is long and cherished, and saying that she appreciates JNU’s culture of debate and dialogue, she goes on to ask how Kanhaiya could speak for the dignity of women, when he threatened her for objecting to his urinating in public.
Saying for Kanhaiya, the right to smoke and urinate in public was his idea of freedom, Narwana said that his callous notion of freedom underlined the “shallowness” of his “political and revolutionary ideology.”
She made it clear that she wasn’t justifying the government’s move and added that there was a difference between criticising the government and portraying Kanhaiya as a revolutionary.
At the end of her letter, she warns the JNU student community to recognise what kind of message they were sending and to “keep their rationality intact.”
The Quint contacted Kanhaiya Kumar’s team for a response. They said that they were not aware of Kamlesh Narwana’s online post and had no comment to offer at the moment.
The story will be updated with the team’s response, once it is received by The Quint.
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