On Friday, Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Delhi government granted sanction to prosecute former JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the Sedition case.
The case is with regard to the alleged anti-national slogans raised in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on February 9, 2016. The Delhi Police Crime Branch had later filed a 1,200-page charge sheet which named 10 JNU students, including Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and seven Kashmiri students as the main accused.
However, Twitter has slammed Arvind Kejriwal and his party for their current stance. Some Twitter users also posted Kejriwal's previous tweets in which he stood in support of the accused.
In a February 12, 2016 tweet, Kejriwal wrote, "No one supports anti-national forces. But targetting innocent students using that as an excuse will prove very costly to Modi government."
In another tweet, Kejriwal had applauded Kanhaiya Kumar's speech. He had written, "What a brilliant speech by Kanhaiya..."
Twitterati lashed out at Kejriwal after the sanction was granted to prosecute Kanhaiya and others. Veteran actor Simi Garewal tweeted, "In this one step towards prosecuting #KanhaiyaKumar I have lost all the respect I ever had for @ArvindKejriwal and @AamAadmiParty. I regret that I ever defended or supported them."
"The much heralded erstwhile liberal hero Mr #ArvindKejriwal has always been an in closet Sanghi. That’s why Aruna Roy left his movement," tweeted Congress leader Sanjay Jha.
Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai said, "I would strongly urge Delhi govt to read case law on sedition. Granting sanction to prosecute a Kanhaiya Kumar for sedition may get ‘nationalist’ approval, but defies the very definition of what constitutes sedition. For more, please read: Balwant Singh Vs state of Punjab."
