New Delhi, Feb 19 (India Today) : A new video of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was arrested on sedition charges, has gone viral on social media. This video is being called clinching proof of Kanhaiya raising seditious slogans in the Jawaharlal University (JNU) campus.
In this video, Kanhaiya is flanked by Umar Khalid, who's now being called by the Delhi Police as the mastermind of the anti-India, pro-Afzal event at the university on February 9. But is this new video truly clinching proof of sedition charges against Kanhaiya or is this just an attempt to spin what really happened?
The new video from Jawaharlal Nehru University is from February 11, two days after the now infamous pro-Afzal, anti-India event organised by the Democratic Student's Union. This video has gone viral on social media and is being played up aggressively by some Hindi and English news channels. The anti-Kanhaiya brigade is calling this clinching proof of the JNU students body president raising anti-India slogans.
But the big question is did Kanhaiya actually participate in anti-India sloganeering? Or is the truth something completely different. In the second video, suddenly the anti-India slogans can no longer be heard. The chant is still one that seeks azaadi but the the azadi that is being sought is freedom from casteism, freedom from feudalism, freedom from Brahminism and freedom from Manuvaad.
So what explains the difference in the two videos that show the same scene, but have completely different implications?
The video shot on February 9 shows a group of students demanding azadi for Kashmir. What might have happened is that somebody might have taken the audio from the video which was shot on February 9 and overlaid it on the video that was shot two days later on February 11, which is why the audio that can be heard is completely different.
It's best for the judiciary to decide whether or not Kanhaiya is guilty of sedition, instead of politicians rushing to provide certificates of innocence or guilt.