Upholder Of Democracy, Anti-national, Leader Of 바카라�Tukde-Tukde Gang바카라�... Who Is Kanhaiya Kumar? Hero Or Hype?

바카라�The perception about me (of being an anti-national) that was created in the minds of people is getting shattered,바카라� Kanhaiya, 33, tells Outlook. 바카라�People are ­realising that I am talking about the country바카라�s welfare, about development, equality, employment, which are in the larger interest of society, not against the nation. It is proving to be a big setback to those who have invested so much to create such a perception against me.바카라� It was at JNU, where he was then the students바카라� union president, that Kanhaiya shot into the limelight with a sedition case slapped against him and spent about a month in Tihar Jail for his 바카라�azaadi바카라� speech in February 2016. Four years later, on February 28, Delhi바카라�s AAP government gave its nod to the Delhi Police to prosecute Kanhaiya. This came a day after Kanhaiya ended a month-long statewide yatra in Bihar organised by a largely apolitical front of about 100 organ­isations against CAA, NRC and NPR, which concluded with a rally in Patna. Bihar goes to the polls in October-November and Kanhaiya will be fighting his battle on two fronts, political and legal. He is not too concerned though and says the case won바카라�t stand the scrut­iny of the court (See interview). But electoral politics is something else, and Kanhaiya바카라�s chastening loss to the BJP바카라�s Giriraj Singh in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls바카라�by over four lakh votes 바카라�is a constant reminder of this harsh fact.

ALSO READ: Politics Behind Kanhaiya Kumar Sedition Case: Have AAP, BJP Joined Hands?

The Bihar elections will put Kanhaiya바카라�s leadership abilities and organisational skills to the litmus test. It will decide whether he has what it takes to be a pol­itical hero or else end up as a mere flicker, unworthy of the hype and halo around his persona. The challenges are formidable. His foremost task will be to resurrect his party바카라�the CPI바카라�s traditional citadels in Bihar, including Begusarai, have crumbled and its pocket boroughs have been overrun by Laloo Prasad Yadav바카라�s social-justice chariot or Nitish Kumar바카라�s double-­engine development juggernaut. The party had alliances with both the leaders in the past, but it has since lost its political and electoral moorings. In most parts of Begusarai, saffron flags with the lotus emblazoned now flutter atop houses of many ­dominant caste landlords, replacing the red ones with hammer and sickle.

Bihat-Masnadpur, though, still swears by its unflinching faith in communist ideology, as if biding time to return to its halcyon days, with the ascendancy of Kanhaiya as the most promising young leader from the Left in recent times.

Kanhaiya, however, appears to be in no hurry to claim his place in the sun as far as Bihar바카라�s electoral politics is concerned. He claims he has no plans for the coming assembly polls and his recent yatra had nothing to do with it either. But Kanhaiya will know better that he has to get to the battlefield, if not to win, but just to rouse the moribund party. In keeping with the hoary traditions of Left parties, Kanhaiya is at best a party worker who cannot afford to grow bigger than the organisation regardless of his growing popularity or stature. Still, the oldest communist party in the state is inc­reasingly being identified with him. At the Patna rally, crowds ran out of ­pat­ience during Medha Patkar바카라�s speech while waiting for Kanhaiya바카라�s turn to speak. The possibility of a pre-poll ­all­iance with the CPI largely depends on whether a prospective ally is comfor­table with Kanhaiya바카라�s meteoric rise or wary of his popularity. Laloo바카라�s RJD, for one, has app­arently chosen to keep a safe distance, simply because he might steal Tejashwi Prasad Yadav바카라�s thunder.

ALSO READ: I바카라�m Not In The Race For Bihar CM, Nor Will I Lead Any Electoral Front: Kanhaiya Kumar

The Patna rally was part of a campaign by a joint front of 100-odd big and small organisations of all hues. It all began with an anti-CAB rally in Purnia on December 16 where a large crowd turned up to listen to Kanhaiya and others. Soon a joint front was formed that decided to hold a mega rally in Patna after a statewide yatra. Yet political pundits wasted no time to presume that Kanhaiya had chosen to undertake the yatra to test the political waters in poll-bound Bihar.

Though Kanhaiya subsequently denied having any hidden election agenda ­behind his yatra, the success of his rallies appears to have landed him right in the middle of the poll arena where he is ­expected to lend support to the ­opposition camp in its bid to prevent CM Nitish Kumar from winning a fourth consecutive election in a row since 2005. Regardless of the RJD바카라�s stand, Kanhaiya바카라�s supporters believe he can still make a difference, with or without being part of any coalition.

The CPI has, for long, been on a hunt for a charismatic leader in its bid to ­revive its fortunes and many of its cadres have lately begun to think that Kanhaiya is the chosen one, the elusive hero they had all been waiting for. Much of their optimism apparently stems from Kanhaiya바카라�s 바카라�Jan Gan Man Yatra바카라� during which he criss-crossed 4,000 km through 38 districts and addressed 62 rallies in a span of 29 days, including the 바카라�Save Constitution, Save Citizenship바카라� rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on February 27. The yatra, which ­commenced from West Champaran on January 30, proved more than eventful with his convoy being attacked at as many as eight places along the way, ­allegedly by right-wing supporters.

The jury is still out whether Kanhaiya바카라�s mass contact mission will have any ­impact on the upcoming polls, but it has certainly underlined Kanhaiya바카라�s ­resilience to bounce back into mainstream politics after his ignominious ­defeat in Begusarai. As the countdown to the assembly polls begins, the big ­question in Bihar is: will the Kanhaiya factor play out in any form?

ALSO READ: Can Kanhaiya Kumar Revive Left Parties? No One Person Has A Magic Wand

Political commentator and economist Nawal Kishore Choudhary says Kanhaiya has definitely emerged as a hero for the forces opposed to Modi, but this heroism need not be translated into electoral gains for the Left. 바카라�He has come up as a hope, as someone who has also brought the Left back into the public ­imagination after a long while. He also comes at a time when there is a ­leadership vacuum in the Left.바카라�

But the crowd he draws against Modi is not necessarily for the Left, says Choudhary. 바카라�Nitish Kumar, in spite of his declining image and anti-incumbency factor, still has the edge,바카라� he says. 바카라�It is largely because of the absence of a credible opposition leader with ­organisational support. You cannot win an election simply with a leader. A leader plays a vital role, but he does it only when he is backed by the organisation.바카라� That is why, Choudhary thinks, Kanhaiya may not be able to leave a mark in the coming polls even though he has a great future ahead.

바카라�As an individual, his persona goes ­beyond the limited boundaries of Left politics, but in electoral terms, he is not a leader of the combined opposition. I don바카라�t see any possibility of him being ­accepted as one either,바카라� he adds.

It is an open secret that a wary RJD had fielded its candidate, Tanveer Hassan, from Begusarai to thwart the possibility of Kanhaiya바카라�s direct contest with the BJP바카라�s Giriraj Singh. The ­grapevine has it that RJD chief Laloo did not want any youth leader to emerge in the combined opposition camp as ­competition to his son Tejashwi. Kanhaiya drew huge crowds all through the campaign, during which he was ­labelled a traitor by his opponents, but he failed to get votes.

In the absence of any umbrella alliance of opposition parties, Kanhaiya바카라�s ­popularity or his ability to pull crowds may well add up to nothing in the coming polls too, because the CPI alone does not seem to have the political structure or the resources to take on its bigger ­rivals in the fray. But Kanhaiya can ­certainly lend heft to any campaign against the NDA, as veteran Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, who shared the stage with Kanhaiya at his ­recent rallies, says.

바카라�Whenever the process for a united ­opposition alliance begins, I would urge the parties concerned not to exclude the CPI because Kanhaiya바카라�s presence is ­necessary for defeating the BJP,바카라� Khan says. 바카라�I have met thousands of people during the yatra who implored us to forge an opposition unity so as to crush the communal agenda in the coming elections. If any party chooses to ignore the sentiments of the people, it will prove that they don바카라�t have either ­honesty or strength to fight such forces.바카라�

Khan, who, like Kanhaiya, was ­president of the JNU students바카라� union (1992-93), says that the Congress is in ­favour of a united opposition with Kanhaiya on board, but the RJD may have some reservations about it. 바카라�Kanhaiya바카라�s presence in the opposition front will have an electrifying effect on the entire campaign against the NDA. The opposition alliance will also get a very good speaker who will raise ­people-centric issues during the ­campaign,바카라� says the Congress legislator and AICC secretary.

But will Tejashwi soften his stand and join hands for a united fight against Nitish Kumar? Ashish Ranjan, secretary of an Araria-based voluntary ­organisation, Jan Jagaran Shakti Sangathan, which had taken the ­initiative to organise a rally against CAA in Purnia, says Kanhaiya may be the most popular face in Bihar today, but given the way politics and caste ­equations work out in the state, a united opposition alliance is unlikely to come up under his leadership. 바카라�The RJD is still a big player in Bihar politics and Kanhaiya바카라�s caste and other things will matter too,바카라� he says. 바카라�Had the Left been strong enough with adequate ­organisational strength, it would have been possible, but that바카라�s not the case.바카라�

Kanhaiya, a Bhumihar, belongs to a dominant caste in a state dominated by backward caste leaders over the past 30 years. This factor alone has prompted many political observers to rule out the possibility of any umbrella organisation of multiple parties outside the Left ambit under his leadership. 바카라�I don바카라�t see Kanhaiya as a formidable force in his own right in Bihar,바카라� Ashish says. 바카라�Unless there is a big churning or a change of strategy or a concerted effort to bring ­together all the groups, it won바카라�t happen.바카라�

Politics in Bihar is a complicated game, which depends a lot on factors like caste equations. 바카라�At the organisational level, Kanhaiya has not done any consolidation process or started any such things in view of the coming elections. Far from it, he himself says that his campaign was not aimed at elections,바카라� says Ashish, who nonetheless claims that he has not seen anybody else as popular as Kanhaiya among the Muslims in Bihar. 바카라�The ­turnout at the rallies, though, was also indicative of the strength of the issue of CAA-NPR-NRC, which was raised by Kanhaiya and others there.바카라�

Nivedita Shakeel, a member of the CPI바카라�s national council who accompanied Kanhaiya to a few rallies, says people have pinned their hope on him. 바카라�They do not look up to him merely as a CPI leader,바카라� she says. 바카라�He is a popular figure. Just like a big film star. Though he wants to steer clear of any kind of heroism, ­thinking it will dilute the seriousness of political issues, young people are crazy about him. They wait for hours to meet him at night, long after the rallies are over.바카라� According to her, Kanhaiya has captured the imagination of people ­primarily because of his unwavering stand against the policies of the Modi government. 바카라�Nobody has stood up to the Modi government the way he has. It has raised hopes among those who are opposed to the BJP바카라�s ideology,바카라� she says. 바카라�They think he can put up a fight against the Modi regime like no other leader.바카라�

Not all, however, are so enamoured of Kanhaiya. RJD vice president Shivanand Tiwari says neither the Left nor Kanhaiya could be an alternative for ­voters in Bihar. 바카라�Kanhaiya may deliver good speeches and draw crowds to his rallies, but nothing more should be read into it,바카라� he says. 바카라�For voters, the coming polls can only be between Nitish and Tejashwi. The Left will try to form a third front, but it will have limited space, with or without Kanhaiya.바카라�

It is this inability of the opposition to stitch up an alliance of anti-NDA forces that political experts think might make it easier for Nitish to return to power. The JD-U, too, thinks there will be no opposition to their leader, united or otherwise, which would be strong enough to pose any threat to the NDA. The state바카라�s information and public relations minister Neeraj Kumar claims Nitish will lead their alliance to the fourth consecutive victory in the polls. The JD-U leader ­insists that the contest this time will be between Nitish and others, and that no matter how many splinter groups spring up from the opposition camp, Nitish will be their common target.

바카라�They contest separately due to their internal contradictions, but the people of Bihar have already made up their mind to vote us back to power,바카라� says the minister. 바카라�They might have some issues with us at times, but they also have ­expectations from us.바카라� He says none of the opposition leaders, including Kanhaiya, have spelt out how they look at the corruption charges against Laloo or Tejashwi, who wants to run their ­alliance on Laloo바카라�s philosophy. 바카라�They have to tell the people of Bihar if their secular politics runs on corrupt practices under Laloowaad,바카라� he adds.

The JD-U also makes little of the claims that it has lately had sharp ­differences with the BJP, especially after Nitish got a resolution against NPR-NRC passed in the state assembly ­without taking his alliance partner into confidence. Trashing the allegation, the minister says, 바카라�There is no difference or confusion in the alliance. In 2015, we had sought votes on the issues of our 바카라�saat nishchay바카라� (seven commitments) and zero tolerance on corruption, which were later endorsed by the BJP. We also do not have differences on any policy or leadership issue.바카라�

With the BJP losing a string of states, including Delhi and Jharkhand, the JD-U appears to have inched closer to ­reasserting itself as the senior partner in the alliance, a position it had forfeited in the general elections last year after ­accepting an equal number of Lok Sabha seats with the BJP in Bihar. The BJP now seems to have no choice but to keep its faith in Nitish. The saffron party also says there is no difference with Nitish on any issue, including the assembly ­resolution against NPR-NRC. 바카라�As far as CAA is concerned, Nitish Kumar has ­already said that the issue is in the court,바카라� BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel says. 바카라�The opposition is in disarray and shows total mistrust against each other. The RJD has already announced Tejashwi as its chief ministerial ­candidate, which has not gone down well with his allies like Jitan Ram Manjhi, Upendra Kushwaha and Mukesh Sahni. They even tried to project Sharad Yadav as their chief ministerial candidate, but the Congress did not agree.바카라�

For the right wing, which considers Kanhaiya to be the very antithesis of its brand of nationalistic politics, the Left leader poses no threat. 바카라�He may be drawing crowds since Bihar still has a Left radical constituency, but that may not translate into seats in the legislature,바카라� says R. Balashankar, political analyst and ­former editor of Organiser. 바카라�And if he ties up with other parties in an alliance of the Congress, RJD and the Left, it will give the BJP a handle to call the ­entire opposition the tukde-tukde gang.바카라�

Back in Bihat-Masnadpur, villagers feel the ­recent attacks on Kanhaiya were a sign of the sheer ­desperation of the forces ­rattled by his soaring ­popularity graph. They also believe the sanction granted by the Delhi ­government to the ­sedition case against him was a ploy to bog him down in court cases so that he could not pursue politics in Bihar or ­elsewhere. Kanhaiya바카라�s octogenarian uncle Rajendra Singh says many ­people had voted against Kanhaiya in the Lok Sabha elections because of the sedition case and now it has suddenly been ­revived during an ­election year in Bihar.

Kanhaiya바카라�s mother Meena Devi, who is an anganwadi sevika in the ­village and earns a monthly ­honorarium of Rs 5,700, says she had panicked when sedition charges were pressed against her son. 바카라�I thought that he had brought kalank (stigma) to the family name,바카라� she says. 바카라�It took me some time to realise that such things do happen in politics.바카라�

Now, in the run-up to the polls, she might as well learn that popularity is not necessarily a virtue in the era of coalition politics.

By Giridhar Jha in Begusarai/Patna