Kanhaiya will not campaign for polls

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar will not campaign in Kerala and West Bengal for the upcoming Assembly polls.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury has clarified that the student leader will not travel to the states to campaign. Only four days ago, after an electrifying speech of Kanahaiya at JNU, the CPM leader had declared that Kumar would be campaigning for Left parties in the Assembly polls. 

“All students supporting the Left will participate in the campaign along with Kanhaiya. For the first time, the nation can see the power of the youth of Left,” the senior leader had said.

Yechury’s suggestion to send him for campaigning in polls seems to have been withdrawn after an assessment by the Left parties that it might not help much. The poll battle in both the states has regional dimensions and the student leader may not suit the local poll requirement.

“Kanhaiya won’t travel to Kerala and Bengal to campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls,” Yechury said in an interview to TV Channel India Today. Yechury cited condition of the bail and other issues involved in making him poll campaigner.

“Kanhaiya Kumar is an endearing person and his speech is his campaign,” Yechury added. The All India Students’ Federation, the organisation Kumar belongs to, is a wing of CPI. Apparently, the CPI is not in favour of pushing the student leader into poll politics. Senior party leaders, including D Raja, were silent over the suggestion of Kanhaiya entering poll politics.