Don’t take political mileage from Kanhaiya case: Sena to BJP

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ The Shiv Sena on Wednesday said the BJP has no moral right to criticise student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been charged with sedition, after teaming up with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. The Sena also asked the ruling BJP to refrain from taking political mileage from the sedition case against Kumar, a former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union.

The BJP committed a “sin” by aligning with People’s Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti, it said, claiming that she considered Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as a martyr. The BJP was part of the PDP-led government in Jammu and Kashmir but pulled out of the coalition last year.

“The BJP committed the biggest sin of aligning with Mehbooba Mufti, who considers Afzal Guru a freedom fighter and a martyr. Now the BJP, for its own benefit, should not try and take political mileage out of the sedition case filed against Kanhaiya,” the Sena said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

“Kanhaiya Kumar speaks well. Since he represents the harried and unemployed youth, he cannot give slogans hailing Afzal Guru or independence for Kashmir. Anyway, what moral right does the BJP have to condemn Kanhaiya Kumar?” it asked.