Kanhaiya Kumar, the former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students union, has been appointed as the in-charge of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) by the Congress party.

In an official statement released on 6th July, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge announced the appointment of Kanhaiya Kumar as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of NSUI.

Kanhaiya Kumar gained national attention in February 2016 when seditious slogans calling for the fragmentation of India were raised at an event held in JNU to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. He was one of the main speakers at the event and was subsequently arrested on charges of sedition.

Before joining the Congress party, Kumar was associated with the All India Students’ Federation (AISF), which is affiliated with the Communist Party of India (CPI). He also served as the president of the JNU Students’ Union.

Aside from the JNU controversy, Kanhaiya Kumar has made controversial statements, including supporting Pakistan’s allegations of rape by the Indian army against Kashmiri Muslim women. He has also been found guilty by the JNU administration of inappropriate behavior with a female student.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Kumar contested from Bihar’s Begusarai constituency against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Giriraj Singh. Despite Singh being an “outsider” to Begusarai, he won the election by a significant margin of 4.2 lakh votes, dealing a major blow to Kumar’s political ambitions and the left-liberal faction that had touted him as a rising star in Indian politics.

In 2021, Kanhaiya Kumar joined the Congress party in the presence of Rahul Gandhi.