Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kanhaiya Kumar reacted to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) showdown and said education is Constitutional right and a privilege. Delhi was turned into a battleground as a fierce faceoff erupted between the students of the JNU and the Delhi Police after the students tried to march towards Parliament demanding a rollback of the fee hike.

Around 100 JNU students, including students' union president Aishe Ghosh, were detained and some were injured when police allegedly baton-charged protestors as they marched towards Parliament on the first day of Winter Session on Monday demanding a total rollback of the recent hostel fee hike.

Speaking with India Today TV in a debate programme, Kanhaiya Kumar attacked the Central government, saying Rs 3,000 crore statue was constructed on taxpayers' money so "why can't education be subsidised".

On being asked about the freeloader charge at the JNU students, Kanhaiya Kumar said the charge is hate against the poor students. Kanhaiya Kumar, also a former JNUSU president, said, "Education is a Constitutional right. It's not a privilege. This freeloader charge is hate against poor students."

"The canteen in Parliament for the MPs is highly subsidised, rent of their government flats is subsidised, Rs 3,000 crore statue was constructed from the taxpayers' money. Is this not the wastage of the taxpayers' money?" asked Kanhaiya Kumar.

"When PM Modi says he would make India a $5 trillion economy, why can't 5,000 students get a good education in such a country? And no student gets anything as alms. There is an all-India level examination and it is funny when people say money is being wasted on research. Development in any country is based on good research."

JNU alumni and actor Swara Bhaskar said, "As a taxpayer, I have no problem in my hard-earned money being spent on subsidised education. In a country like India, which is still relatively poor and structurally unequal, public funding in education and higher education enables a very large percentage of the population, especially the lower-income and below poverty line groups, to access the education."

She also asserted that there are no freeloaders on the JNU campus. When asked why a system should be subsidising the "freeloaders of JNU" as has been alleged, Swara Bhaskar said, "It is a bogus argument by people who are anti-education and have clearly not studied themselves. There is a certain time that a PhD takes."