New Delhi, Feb. 22: Kanhaiya Kumar's uncle and brother met him in Tihar jail today and returned "strengthened" by the young man's fortitude. But they cannot understand Narendra Modi's silence.

"I want to ask the Prime Minister that if he was a poor chaiwallah (tea seller), then Kanhaiya too is the son of a poor anganwadi worker. Why is he silent when it's clear that evidence is being fabricated to label Kanhaiya anti-national?" Rajendra Singh, 72, said.

The uncle had listened to Modi's speech in Odisha yesterday, where he alleged that some people who could not accept a chaiwallah as Prime Minister were conspiring to topple his government.

Kanhaiya's mother, Meena Devi, is an anganwadi worker while his father Jaishankar Singh is paralytic and has been bedridden since 2013. The family lives in Bihar.

"If Modiji genuinely cares about the poor, he should speak out. Kanhaiya too is a poor farmer's son," Rajendra told The Telegraph.

Rajendra, Kanhaiya's elder brother Manikant Singh and three relatives had set off for Delhi after watching TV pictures of the JNU student leader being attacked in the Patiala House Courts last Wednesday.

"My parents were deeply worried. We rushed to Delhi to see Kanhaiya's condition for ourselves," Manikant said. The group reached the city on Saturday afternoon.

It took them a lot of effort to meet Kanhaiya. They spent 20-odd minutes with him and were left amazed by his mental strength in the face of the court assault and the campaign against him.

"We had gone to give him strength but Kanhaiya strengthened us instead. He told us he had not done anything wrong and had faith in the Constitution and the courts," said Manikant, who studied till Class XII and works for a private company in Bongaigaon, Assam.

"I got tearful when I saw him in jail but he touched my feet and said, 'Don't worry, uncle, I'm following the path you showed me'," Rajendra, a CPI member since 1956, said.

He said Kanhaiya had been inspired by his fight against bonded labour in Bihar. The entire family has been associated with the CPI.

Rajendra said Kanhaiya was "safe" in jail and was reading Munshi Premchand's novel Nirmala. His bail petition is to be heard on Tuesday.

Rajendra wondered how anyone could believe that Kanhaiya was "anti-national".

"Many people from our extended family are in the army and the paramilitary forces. A few years ago, one of my nephews, who is in the CRPF, was killed in an anti-insurgency operation in Assam," he said.

The visitors, who are staying in the CPI central office, Ajoy Bhavan, are not sure that Kanhaiya would receive bail.

"We have faith in the Constitution and the courts but not in the tantra (administration). They may cook up something new to oppose his bail," the brother said.

"Why are the government and the police not acting against people who have tried to fabricate evidence?"