CPI General Secretary D Raja. (File Photo)
CPI general secretary D Raja speaks to Manoj C G on the Delhi government’s decision to sanction Kanhaiya Kumar’s prosecution
Were you surprised by the Arvind Kejriwal government’s decision to give prosecution sanction to Delhi Police in the sedition case against CPI national executive member and former JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and nine others?
The way Arvind Kejriwal is presenting his politics is surprising. Kejriwal had said in 2016 that these videos are all doctored. Suddenly, how he relied upon the evidence? What is this change of mind and change of politics? More than surprising, it raises questions about Kejriwal. We are confident that Kanhaiya Kumar will come out unscathed as the charges are false and politically motivated. It is unfortunate that the Kejriwal government has succumbed to political pressure and granted permission to prosecute Kanhaiya.
How will this move impact Opposition unity. The AAP, for instance, was a signatory to the letter CPI(M), CPI and some Opposition parties wrote to the President on Friday over the situation in Delhi?
It seems Aam Aadmi Party is not united. That is what I understand. A case has been registered against their own man (councillor Tahir Hussain). I think there are differences in the AAP.
The AAP had maintained silence on the anti-CAA protests during the Assembly election. Now its government has given the go-ahead. How do you see it?
Exactly. It raises several questions. This political eclecticism — on one side Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande Mataram and on the other, Inquilab Zindabad — will not survive. Temporarily, Kejriwal may think it gives him advantage but it would not last. The chief minister, as I said, has in the beginning said that there is no case of sedition against Kanhaiya and the videos were doctored. We are yet to ascertain why this sudden change of heart has happened.
The Delhi government’s standing counsel had advised against giving police the go-ahead just seven months ago?
That is what we have come to know. We are seeking that report also. We will release it to the media to prove our claim. Moreover, sedition (Act) is a colonial law. In 2011, when I was in Parliament, I had moved a private member’s Bill, seeking deletion of the sedition law from our statute.
How do you plan to fight the case?
We will fight, legally and politically. We don’t have a problem. Communists cannot be intimidated like this. We fought against the British.
We were the first party to face conspiracy and sedition cases under British rule. Even when my party was founded in 1925… Kanpur conspiracy case was put… many leaders could not reach Kanpur for attending the first Congress… but our party was founded. And our party was at the forefront of the freedom movement. There was the Meerut conspiracy case… the Madurai conspiracy case… the Tirunelveli conspiracy case… Communist party faced many conspiracy and sedition cases during the British rule….we could fight the British raj, now we will fight the BJP raj.