New Delhi: CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar will campaign for the Left Front in the five assembly poll-bound states.
“He (Kanhaiya Kumar) is a Left activist. As a Left activist, he will naturally campaign (for the parties). It is often said that youth is not attracted to the Left. What they have to say about yesterday’s meeting in JNU?” CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
Kumar is a leader of All India Students’ Federation (AISF), the students’ wing of CPI.
Several other communist leaders too claimed that he was a Left activist. CPI national secretary D Raja said there is a demand for Kanhaiya to campaign in different parts of the country.
“As a student activist, political activist he is likely to campaign for us. There are demands for him to campaign in many places. We will have to see how it works out,” Raja said.
West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry will go to polls in April and May.
Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on sedition charges three weeks ago for allegedly raising anti-India slogans. The government’s move had triggered a massive outcry in the country. However, Kanhaiya was released on Thursday from Tihar jail, after he granted interim bail for six months by the High Court.