Kanhaiya meets Rahul Gandhi, thanks him for supporting JNU students

Jawaharlal Nehru University students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at his residence here on Tuesday and thanked him for supporting the varsity students following the controversy over the February 9 event.

Accompanied by delegations from the JNU and the All India Students' Federation (AISF), Kanhaiya met Gandhi at around 11:30 a.m.

"When the JNU controversy took place..Rahul Gandhi ji and other leaders went there. So, a delegation of JNU came here to thank Rahul ji. In the coming days, they will be meeting other leaders also whoever supported the movement. We will continue this fight to protect the autonomy of the Constitution. We will fight the attempts of the RSS to attack the institutions of prominence in the country," National Students' Union of India (NSUI) president Rozi John told the media here.

"We have not come here to do politics of election. We are working under the university and working against the attacks on the educational institutions by the RSS. We are fighting for the students' rights," he added.

The Congress vice-president had earlier attended a solidarity meeting at the JNU to demand Kanhaiya's release.

Gandhi, who had also joined the protest march demanding justice for Kanhaiya, attacked the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing them of crushing voices of the students across the country and pitched for a law to protect them from discrimination and suppression.

Meanwhile, amid the protest against Hyderabad University Vice-Chancellor P. Appa Rao, who resumed office today after going on leave amid the storm following the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula, Kanhaiya would be visiting Hyderabad University tomorrow.

Rao was under fire for his handling of the suspension of the five Dalit students, one of whom, Rohith Vemula, committed suicide on January 17.

The varsity students had vehemently protested demanding his resignation.

26-year-old Vemula, who hanged himself in Hyderabad Central University campus in January, was suspended from his hostel in August last year for allegedly attacking an ABVP leader.