Sheer brilliance: Twitterati ‘spellbound’ by Kanhaiya’s JNU speech

Not only the JNU campus, Kanhaiya’s speech set social media on fire too.

Student leader Kanhaiya Kumar was given a roaring welcome at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) upon his release from Tihar jail on Thursday -- nearly three weeks after he was arrested on a controversial sedition charge -- and said he never “asked for freedom from India, but freedom within India”.

Kanhaiya Kumar, a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student union leader, gestures as he addresses a meet inside JNU campus in New Delhi, India, March 3, 2016. (REUTERS)

Not only the JNU campus, Kanhaiya’s speech set social media on fire too. Since his speech on Thursday, #KanhaiyaKumar was the top trend on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Watch: Kanhaiya Kumar’s full speech at JNU after getting out of jail

For eight hours and counting, the student union leader’s return to campus was arrested on charges of sedition was the most talked about subject on social networking sites, especially Twitter India. The hashtag even climbed to fifth position in worldwide trends on Twitter.

The dominant reaction was of sheer awe and appreciation for Kanhaiya’s exemplary oratory skills. Others conveyed their shock that an ‘anti-national’ was being feted so, while many addressed the Modi government’s faux-pas in creating such a formidable leader by levelling sedition charges against him.

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