Patna, Feb. 17: Jaishankar Singh and Meena Devi are shattered, but they have not given up hope.

Their son, JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, was arrested February 12 on charges of sedition and sent to judicial custody till March 2 by a Delhi court today amid a replay of yesterday's courtroom violence. But the parents, who are glued to the TV following the developments, are confident their son will come out clean. A confidence that was bolstered by the Supreme Court's intervention today.

"It is nothing but a ploy to weaken my son because he believes in a political ideology that is different from what is being preached by the RSS-BJP," Jaishankar (60), who is half-paralysed and hardly moves out of his tiled house in Masnadpur tola, Bihat, Begusarai district, around 120km east of Patna, told The Telegraph on the phone today. "Kanhaiya won't surrender before such forces and will come out clean in the legal battle - because he loves his country."

The family owns a little over an acre of agricultural land, but since Jaishankar's paralytic attack two years ago the family has opted for sharecropping.

Kanhaiya, member of the leftist All India Students' Federation, was elected JNU Students' Union president in September 2015. Leftist ideology runs in his blood.

"CPI MLA late Chandrashekhar Singh, who represented the then Barauni Assembly constituency and was a minister in the first non-Congress government of Bihar formed in 1967, was one of our relatives," Jaishankar said. "Our family members have natural leanings towards Left."

Kanhaiya's mother, Meena Devi (55), is most hurt at the sedition charges levelled against him.

"My son is not a traitor," said Meena, an anganwadi worker who earns around Rs 4,000 a month. "I firmly believe that all the saner elements of the country will join hands and help him in getting justice, because we don't have resources to fight a legal battle and that too in Delhi."

Kanhaiya (29) was talented student from early on, said Pramod Singh, a neighbour of the family who is a retired schoolteacher, "and he also had a very progressive outlook. I firmly believe that he has been framed for political reasons."

After earning his MA from Nalanda Open University in Bihar, Kanhaiya joined JNU in 2011 to do an MPhil in international studies. He is now in the final year of his PhD.

His elder brother, Manikant Kumar, works with a private firm Bongaigaon, Assam. Prince, Kanhaiya's younger brother who was preparing for the civil services exam in Delhi, had come to visit the family a month ago but stayed back after Jaishankar fell ill. And with his brother arrested in Delhi, Prince is staying back to be by his parents side in this troubled hour.

"The recent incidents have firmed up my resolve to clear the civil services," Prince said, "because the system can be reformed only if one becomes an effective part of it."

Political support

Rebel BJP MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, today fired a series of tweets backing Kanhaiya.

"Have heard transcript of speech of Kanhaiya, our Bihar boy president of JNUSU. He has said nothing anti national or against constitution," Sinha tweeted. He followed it up with: "Hope wish and pray that he's release soon, sooner the better..."

He backed JNU: "JNU is going through a crisis for reasons best known to politicians. It is an institution of international repute, enviable record &history."

An incensed Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey demanded Sinha's resignation from Parliament.

"Our party justifies action against Kanhaiya and we believe that he is a traitor," Pandey said. Asked on what ground, Pandey questioned back: "What would you call a person who stands with traitors?"

The JDU sent its MLC Niraj Kumar to Kanhaiya's home, where he spent over half-an-hour with the parents.

"I spoke to the family and locals there and just raised one point," Niraj said on the way back to Patna. "What has prevented the central government or Delhi police to produce evidence against Kanhaiya even after 120 hours of his arrest?"

He also asked why those who were shown raising slogans against India in TV footages had not yet been arrested.

Lalu Prasad, who came back to Patna from Delhi today, told reporters that Kanhaiya had tried to pacify those who were raising objectionable slogans at the meeting in question. The RJD chief demanded a parliamentary committee probe into the issue.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar has already raised his voice in support of Kanhaiya.