JNU Students Chanted: “Anupam Kher se azaadi” at the back of the crowd

Since the 9^th February 2016 controversial event led by Kanhaiya Kumar in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Campus’ New Delhi has become a ground of controversies and now it has witnessed a new controversy as some of the students of JNU chanted “Anupam Kher se Azadi” after the actor made appearance on the campus.

Actor Anupam Kher made an appearance on the JNU campus for the screening of his film Buddha In A Traffic Jam as part of the series of cultural evenings, on Friday organised by the BJP’s student wing the ABVP. The cultural celebrations were held after the news broke of interim bail granted to Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

Both Khalid and Bhattacharya have been in jail accused of the sedition charges since 13 February when they surrendered themselves to the Delhi police.

As news of the bail reached JNU at 4 pm, students came out to the Sabarmati Dhaba and chanting their famous slogans of Azadi, they covered each other in gulal colours marking holi with victory for students.

Kanhaiya Kumar, JNU student union president who was also in jail on same charges but granted interim bail, reminds his happiness again and expressed his happiness over the bail of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

Then dancing start off with the remix song of Kumar’s Azadi speech, composed by Chandigarh-based music artist DubSharma when Kumar was in jail. Both students were released from Tihar by 9 pm on Friday night, as the campus announced a unity march for them.

In perhaps the best protest of inclusive, hundreds of students came out for to listening to Anupam Kher and watch his movie. Kher, in his speech, took many jokes at Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya, saying that the people who returned to the campus on bail weren’t “Olympic winners”, they weren’t “Sachin Tendulkar or even Saina Nehwal”. “Heroes are those who speak good of the nation, not those who speak ill,” he added.

In an attempt at self-supplicate gesture, he said that he was not so smart  enough or had enough marks to be in JNU, but his education ensured to love his nation.  “There is no intoxication like that of Desh bhakti,” said Kher.

Defending his tweet in which he said that chanting “Bharat Mata ki Jai” the only slogan to prove one’s nationalism, he raised the slogan again as four tricolour flags waved behind him.

The movie itself was greeted with a big round of applause. However, the post-screening interaction had little to do with questions especially about the movie. Students bombarded Kher with more ideological questions and arguments, on the concept of Bharat Mata, on extremism on both the left and the right. The actor tried to field them as best as he could.

However, some audience members laughed, most waited patiently for the movie to start and a handful protested against his presence on campus. “Anupam Kher se Azadi” chanted some 20 students at the back of the crowd.