Kanhaiya booed at event

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Former JNU Students’ Unionpresident Kanhaiya Kumar, who is out on bail in a seditioncase, was today booed at an event where the audience did notallow him to speak, prompting him to cut short his address. Kanhaiya, who was arrested in February this year in asedition case over an event during which anti-national sloganswere allegedly raised, had kick-started a debate on"nationalism" across the country. He was to participate in the India Today Mind Rockssummit today and address the gathering on "Azaadi". However,the audience did not welcome him on stage and started hootingwhen he arrived. "Those who are hooting here are also free to do so. Deshme azaadi hai (there is freedom in the county). You will notbe charged for sedition," he said on a lighter note. Narrating his experiences from the prison, Kanhaiya said,"What is wrong in having been to jail? Mahatma Gandhi andBhagat Singh have also gone to jail?" However, when asked if he considers going to jail as"fancy", the student leader said, "The world is a jail formany of us. When girls are not allowed to move out at night,they are in jail, when people are unemployed and live onfootpaths they are in jail…so it is always a better deal tobe in smaller jail (prison) than the bigger jail (world)." Kanhaiya, who has been critical of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, again took a dig at him, saying, "It is hisbirthday today but half the people are on streets and othersin jails. What a reason to rejoice? If 65 per cent of thecountry comprises youths, how can a 65-year-old be theirleader?" His remarks about the PM irked the audience who startedcheering for Modi and booed him. Asked whether the slogans raised on February 9 in JNUcampus amounted to sedition, Kanhaiya said, "No sloganeeringamounts to sedition. Any activity that breaks the nation orattempts to do so is seditious, slogans can never break anycountry…and India is not that weak that it will be dividedor broken by anybody’s slogans". Kanhaiya had to cut short his address as the audiencecontinued to hoot, disrupting his speech. PTI GJS AAR RGAAR