JNUSU leader Kanhaiya Kumar set to pen book, 'Bihar to Tihar'

Kanhaiya Kumar, whose arrest on charges of sedition catapulted him to the centre stage of students politics and ignited a nationwide debate on nationalism and free speech, will come out with a book on his eventful journey from a nondescript Bihar village.

The book -- Bihar to Tihar -- will tell the story of his journey from his school, his deepening involvement in student politics, his controversial arrest nearly two-and-half months back and its aftermath.

“Bhagat Singh had said it is easy to kill individuals, but you cannot kill ideas. I do not know where this fight of ours will take us, but I thought our ideas should be permanently etched in history as a book,” 28-year-old Kanhaiya said on his book.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president also said he wanted to write about the ‘inherent contradictions’ of Indian society through his personal experiences and to ‘reveal the hopes, despair and struggles’ of the youth of India.

The book will be published by Juggernaut publication.

“This will be defining book of our times. Kanhaiya’s is a voice that everyone should hear and we at Juggernaut are very proud to bring it to the widest possible readership,” said Chiki Sarkar, publisher, Juggernaut.

Kanhaiya was arrested in February on charges of sedition in connection with a controversial event on the JNU campus against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. His arrest had triggered widespread outrage and protests. He was released on bail on March 3.

Kanhaiya had delivered a nearly forty-minute speech in Hindi in the JNU campus in remarkable oratory which was watched by millions on TV and internet.

He is from village Bihat near Barauni in Begusarai district of Bihar. He moved to JNU after completing his post graduation from the Nalanda Open University in Patna.

Currently, he is pursuing PhD in African studies at the School of International Studies.