Kanhaiya Kumar gets sympathiser in Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray says wrong to call him 'Deshdrohi'

Mumbai: JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar got a surprise of his life when out of all the people, Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray supported him and criticised his ally BJP for labelling him 'anti-national'.

During a meeting of party office-bearers, Thackeray said “The government should thing about who gave birth to Kanhaiya Kumar in the first place. It is wrong to label him 'desdrohi' (anti-national).”

Further advising the government to handle issues related to youth with caution, he said, “Youth are in huge numbers in our country and therefore Centre must take care. In this way youth will not be able to work freely.”

"India has a big population of youths. Instead of giving them proper guidance and directions, the government is "misleading" them, he added and cited the examples of Rohit Vemula (Dalit scholar who committed suicide in Hyderabad University), Hardik Patel (Gujarat Patel quota stir leader who is in jail) and JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar (who has been charged with sedition).

The JNU leader had earlier in the day alleged that a BJP supporter tried to strangulate him in Jet Airways flight.

He also said that the Jet Airways staff refused to take any action against the man who assaulted him.

(With Agency inputs)