Janjivan Bureau
New Delhi: A Kargil martyr’s daughter whose social media campaign against the ABVP has gone viral, got caught up in a Twitter war with ex-cricketer Viredner Sehwag and actor Randeep Hooda who called her a “political pawn”. 24-year-old Gurmehar Kaur, a Delhi University student, had started the campaign ‘I am not afraid of ABVP’, following the violence at Ramjas college. The campaign went viral and received a massive support from students of various universities. Even Gurmehar Kaur spoke up saying: “I am heartbroken, these are the ppl you yell for in matches & they troll you at the expense of your father’s death”.
While Hooda came in for a bevy of criticism on Twitter and in other places, including from Gurmehar Kaur, Hooda stood his ground and refused to be cowed down. He said that he was just having a laugh and that his tweets weren’t the source of the hate she was receiving. He added that he and Viru had the right to make jokes in a democracy and said that he wouldn’t be bullied or cowed.
Congress leader P Chidambaram slammed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his remarks amid the DU row and asked whether he was leading an “alliance of subversion” when he was the DUSU president in 1975.
Jaitley had said on Saturday that there was an “alliance of subversion” on certain Indian campuses and that the ultra-Left and separatists were speaking the same language.
“When Mr Jaitley was President of DUSU in 1975, was he heading an ‘Alliance of Subversion’?” the former finance minister said in a tweet.
They must also allow others with different opinions to speak, he said while delivering a talk at London School of Economics.
The minister said it was his personal belief that “free speech” in society needs to be debated, adding that “violence is however not the method”.
His comments came amidst the ongoing row over the clashes between Left-affiliated AISA and the RSS-backed ABVP in Delhi University’s North Campus.
Tension prevailed in the North Campus in the wake of Wednesday’s incident even as members of students’ groups protested at many places, including at the Delhi Police headquarters, seeking action against the ABVP members.
Jaitley was the president of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) in 1974-75.
