New Delhi: Hitting back at her detractors, Delhi University (DU) student Gurmehar Kaur on Monday clarified that her opposition to student union body Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was not on grounds of ideology but for what happened on the campus last week.
Kaur, who studies at DU, had posted a message on social media against ABVP following the violence at Ramjas College on February 15.
In the post, Lady Shri Ram College student Kaur held a handwritten placard that read, “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP.”
Her Facebook post followed clashes at Ramjas College over Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid being invited to speak at an event. Khalid was accused of sedition last year and is out on bail.
The college was forced to cancel the event after ABVP activists allegedly barged in and vandalised the college. A day later, over 20 students were hurt in clashes outside the college between different groups.
“It was not an attack on protesters, but an attack on every notion of democracy that is held dear in every Indian’s heart. It is an attack on ideals, morals, freedom and rights of every person born to this nation,” Kaur, an undergraduate literature student, wrote on Facebook.
“Stones were not pelted on Umar Khalid. He was not even present there. The stones were pelted on students who were there. The stones that you pelt hit our bodies, but fail to bruise our ideas. Whether it is ABVP or any other organisation, no one has the right to take law and order into their hands,” she added.
Countering Kaur’s remarks, ABVP spokesperson Saket Bahuguna said, “Wherever we see the integrity of our country at stake, ABVP will protest.”
However, Kaur has been criticised and trolled for singling out ABVP as the wrecker during the violence. She claimed that she has been receiving rape threats after her Facebook post went viral.
“I have been getting a lot of threats on social media. When you open the profile picture that I changed, you keep seeing there are people threatening me and calling me an anti-nationalist. I think it is very scary when people threaten you with violence or with rape. There is this guy called Rahul and he’s given a very detailed description in a comment saying how he would like to rape me. That is very scary,” she told media.
Trolls, however, have called her names saying that she has shamed her martyr father Captain Mandeep Singh, who died fighting against Pakistan during 1999 Kargil war.
Responding to that, she said, “I will not be scared or be cowed down. My father took a bullet for the country and I am also ready to take bullet for the country. I love my country and I also love my fellow students and I support their right to freedom of speech.”
Kaur said giving rape threats to women in the name of nationalism is “just not correct.” She said she had no idea that her post would get such massive support.
“I was not there at the spot where this horrifying incident happened, but when I got to know that some of my friends were injured during the clash and stones were pelted at them, I got so upset, I could not bear that and took to social media to register my protest,” she told media on Monday.
“The students who were attacked by ABVP were Indians and they call it nationalism. What kind of nationalism is this? I had never imagined that I would get such a support from everyone but there is a lot of hatred too and that is personal, which is not acceptable,” she added.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Pratap Simha compared Kaur with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.
“At least Dawood Ibrahim did not use the crutches of his father’s name to justify his anti-national stand,” Simha, Member of Parliament (MP) from Mysore, said on Saturday.
Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju also tweeted on Monday to suggest that Kaur was being influenced by someone or a group.
“Who is polluting this young girl’s mind? A strong armed force prevents a war. India never attacked anyone, but a weak India was always invaded,” Rijiju said.
He said no anti-India slogans would be allowed in the name of freedom of speech.
“Freedom of expression in the country does not give anyone the right to make college campuses the hub of anti-national activity,” Rijiju averred.
