Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 27
From penning rhymes in support of what is being described as a “bold” stand taken by her to a joint appeal by eminent persons asking people to stand by her in this hour of “trial of democracy”, there is a groundswell of support for Gurmehar Kaur, daughter of Kargil martyr Capt Mandeep Singh, who has dared to confront the ABVP for allegedly attacking students and teachers of Ramjas College in Delhi.Punjabi poet and former president of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi Gurbhajan Gill has written: “Jago mere veero, jago; apani goorhi neend tyago, jag pavo Gurmehar jagave, sutian umar beet na jave; Gurmehar zindabad (My brothers, it is time to wake up; Gurmehar is asking you to come out of slumber, and let the life not pass away while sleeping).”Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, academician Dr Chaman Lal and several others have issued an appeal, asking people to join hands to back Gurmehar, who has taken on the right-wing forces posing a threat to the freedom of expression, freedom of speech and freedom of academic institutions, especially universities and colleges.“Gurmehar is the honour of our country. We are all with her and will go all out to protect her honour and dignity. No one should think that she is alone. She is a woman of substance,” Dr Gandhi said.CPI executive member Joginder Dayal said someone was to take lead in confronting the ABVP, which, with active support of PM Narendra Modi and his associates, wanted to crush all dissenting forces in the country. Gurmehar has taken the lead and all right-thinking people in the country should support her to stall the taking over of educational institutions by the right wing forces and their associates, he said.Demanding a ban on the student body and exemplary action against culprits of Ramjas College violence, Capt Amarinder Singh said the ABVP, its mentors and members should be ashamed of their abominable behaviour. He said the girl’s father laid down his life for the country and she was being victimised for her legitimate act.The culprits should be arrested and put behind bars. This organisation (ABVP) had no respect for women, he said.“Instead of allowing her (Gurmehar) to be victimised for her stand, the authorities, including the Delhi and the Centre governments, should ensure that the perpetrators of violence and those issuing threats to the martyr’s daughter are given exemplary punishment,” he added.
Goes incommunicado
Gurmehar Kaur stopped all communication on Monday evening. Her last tweet came at 6 pm. It reads, “Please consider this tweet as my request for leave of absence. Can’t speak to anyone, anymore. Will speak up on Tuesday #FightBackDU”.
Please consider this tweet as my request for leave of absence. Can’t speak to anyone, anymore. Will speak up on Tuesday #FightBackDU
Parties spar, student gets threats
Delhi women panel asks police to take action as Gurmehar campaign takes ugly turn
DU’s PU fallout: On a day a war or words erupted over the “banner of revolt” raised by a Kargil martyr’s daughter against the ABVP in New Delhi, girl activists of the ABVP and Students For Society (SFS) came to blows during a protest at Panjab University, Chandigarh, on Monday. Tribune Photo: Pradeep TewariNew Delhi, February 27
Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, whose campaign against the ABVP has gone viral, found herself at the centre of a major row today as the ruling BJP and the Opposition traded charges over the Ramjas College clashes, re-igniting the intolerance debate.
Facing death and rape threats after her social media campaign against the RSS student wing, Kaur, daughter of an Army officer killed in the Kargil war, was compared to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim by a BJP MP while Union Minister Kiren Rijiju wondered who was “polluting” her mind. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Kaur, however, got endorsement of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and many others for her stand against the ABVP and violence on the campus.The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has asked the police to act against those threatening Gurmehar. Kaur, a student of Lady Sri Ram College, insisted she won’t be intimidated. “I am not afraid because I am fighting for the right thing,” she said, adding she was getting numerous threats on phone and social media, besides filthy comments. “It would be very nice if I get protection. Fear is not in my blood. My father took a bullet for the country and I am also ready to do that,” she added. Kaur, 20, said nobody had the right to threaten any woman with rape. She took on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which controls the Delhi University Students Union, after its activists were blamed for attacks on students, teachers and journalists on the campus. Students opposed to the Ramjas College violence of February 22 and the online threats against Kaur have decided to take out a march in Delhi University tomorrow. The issue triggered a war of words between the BJP and the Congress. “Criticise the government, but don’t abuse the motherland,” Rijiju said, after Kaur also posted: “Pakistan did not kill my father. War killed him.” BJP MP Pratap Simha from Mysuru posted an image of Dawood on Twitter with the words “I didn’t kill people in 1993, bombs killed them.” The MP added: “At least Dawood did not use the crutches of his father’s name to justify his anti-national stand.” Both Rijiju and Simha faced flak. Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said: “An atmosphere is being created to protect those who support violence or are fascist in nature. But those who try to express something within the limits of the Constitution face violence.” The Congress also targeted Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his remark in London that “there is an alliance of subversion on Indian campuses”.AAP blamed the government for the threats and accused the ABVP of unleashing violence “both in the real and the online world”. Union ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Ravi Shankar Prasad hit back at the Opposition for its narrative of attack on freedom of expression. “Everybody has freedom, but that does not mean that you raise slogans to weaken the country. Does freedom of expression mean raising slogans like Azadi for Kashmir, Azadi for Bastar?” asked Prasad. Naidu accused Leftists of turning universities into “laboratories for separatist experiments”. — IANS
‘Stand by her’
- Gurmehar is the honour of our country. We are all with her and will go all out to protect her honour and dignity. No one should think that she is alone. She is a woman of substance. — Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, AAP MP
- The ABVP, its mentors and members should be ashamed of their abominable behaviour. The girl’s father laid down his life for the country and she is being victimised for her legitimate act. —Capt Amarinder Singh, Congress leader
ABVP, SFS supporters clash on PU campus
Police round up 8 students, 4 each from both parties; footage to be given to disciplinary panel
Activists of the ABVP and the SFS scuffle during a protest organised by the ABVP at the PU on Monday. Tribune Photos: Pradeep Tewari
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, February 27
A minor clash took place between supporters of the ABVP and the SFS on the Panjab University (PU) campus today when an SFS member termed supporters of the ABVP at Ramjas College in Delhi “goons”. The police rounded up eight supporters, four each from the ABVP and the SFS, from the university. The supporters of both student parties had a heated argument at the PU during a protest held by the ABVP against the SFS alleging that it had used derogatory remarks against the Army during a discussion on the campus. Later, both parties raised slogans against each other at the Student Centre. The PU security staff intervened, but failed to control the situation following which the police were called.Supporters of both parties entered into a scuffle four times. PU chief security officer Jatinder Grover said a written complaint had been submitted to the police along with the video footage of the incident for action.Allegations and counter-allegations were levelled by both parties against each other over the clash.ABVP members alleged that its woman supporter was manhandled by the SFS. However, the SFS claimed that a woman supporter of the party had tackled the ABVP supporter, who tried to enter into a scuffle. “We condemn the violence by the SFS. The police have arrested ABVP members Harmanjot Singh, Saurbh Kapoor, Kushal Kondal and Akshay,” said Harmanjot Singh of the ABVP.“After the JNU and the DU, the ABVP today tried to impose its pseudo nationalist agenda in the PU and demonstrated against the SFS. After the demonstration, a local journalist invited the SFS for a talk. While the journalist was conversing with members of both student parties, ABVP ‘goons’ showed their true face and started using abusive language,” said Daman of the SFS. “Ramanpreet Singh, Ravinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh and Ramanpreet Singh were taken into police custody following the scuffle,” said Daman.The SFS had organised a protest at the PU on Saturday and quoted an NHRC report on an incident of rape of 16 tribal women allegedly by the security forces in Chhattisgarh. The ABVP had organised a protest against the SFS and other Left organisations today alleging that they had shown the Army in poor light during their protest on Saturday.
What the chief security officer says
- The PU chief security officer said the footage of the scuffle would be forwarded to the PU disciplinary committee on Tuesday morning for action. He said a complaint had been sent to the PU VC, the Registrar and the Dean, Students Welfare, by the security department.
Subversive, who?
Jaitley mistakes violence for free speech
Speaking to students of the London School of Economics on Saturday, Finance Minister Jaitley sought to turn incidents of student violence — in which ABVP highhandedness comes out clearly in various media reports — into a case of free speech. He even discovered a threat to the nation’s sovereignty from an “alliance of subversion” and went on to conclude “the separatists and the ultra-Left are speaking the same language in certain university campuses”. The facts do not justify the interpretations made. The violence at Ramjas College was over two JNU students being invited to a seminar. When the ABVP objected, the college cancelled the invitation. It is here the right to free speech is involved. Injuries to students, teachers and journalists and charges of police complicity point to a different narrative.Being on a power high, the BJP leaders, including a moderate Jaitley, see political virtue in the unruly ABVP boys. Nor have they cared to tell the Delhi Police to enforce the rule of law without bias. The lawyer in Jaitley shifted to a free speech bhashan: “If you believe, you have free speech to assault the sovereignty of the country, then be ready to concede free speech to counter that.” It is the ABVP that does not seem “ready to concede free speech”. If he meant those who raised anti-national slogans at JNU, well they have never been arrested. Both Kanahiya Kumar and Umar Khalid are out on bail. The leftists and Kashmiri separatists are ideologically apart. Where is the alliance? The ABVP hurry to penetrate universities with or without state power is understandable. From Hyderabad to JNU, to Allahabad, Jodhpur and now Delhi University, it is the same story. Force and arrogance of authority rather than argument sometimes produce an unintended backlash, the kind seen in the popularity of the Facebook post of a Kargil martyr’s daughter which said: “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP”. Marxist-Leninist and Kashmiri groups have pockets of influence but none that should drive the country’s Finance Minister to make alarmist proclamations on foreign soil. He ended up prettifying the ABVP boorishness.
‘She is not representing all martyrs and their kids’: Hooda on Gurmehar row
File photo of Randeep Hooda.
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 27A Kargil martyr’s daughter, whose social media campaign against the ABVP has gone viral, got caught up in a Twitter war on Monday with ex-cricketer Virendra Sehwag and actor Randeep Hooda who called her a “political pawn”.The 20-year-old, Gurmehar Kaur, a Delhi University student, had started the campaign ‘I am not afraid of ABVP’, following the violence at Ramjas College, which went viral and received a massive support from students of various universities.Hooda, who faced a lot of flak for his posts, refused to be cowed down and in a Facebook post wrote, “This girl’s voice is important, but not more important than every other citizen. She is in no way representing all the martyrs and their children. It’s her personal opinion and should be taken as such.”Further clearing the air Hooda wrote: “As for being insensitive to a martyr’s daughter, let me tell you that six of my classmates have sacrificed their lives for the nation and so have many others, senior and junior to me. Every village in my state has martyrs who have been saluted for more than two centuries. Yes, war is wrong but we didn’t start it or persevere with it. We don’t back down from protecting our borders even if it takes our loved ones away. How do we deal with it ? With ironical humour!!”