After Sehwag, Hooda and union ministers, Babita Phogat enters Gurmehar debate; asks why support someone who doesn't support the nation
Since the time her campaign against ABVP went viral, DU student Gurmehar Kaur has been in news. As right-wing loyalists directed rape and death threats towards her, cricketer Virender Sehwag entered the picture making a sly tweet and actor Randeep Hooda by lauding the former for it. Now, wrestler Babita Phogat has commented about the issue.
HERE'S A SMALL RECAP
Delhi University's Ramjas College saw members and supporters of ABVP and AISA thrashing each other over an invite for JNU's Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid for a cultural event. In the aftermath of the violence, Gurmehar Kaur, a Delhi University student who is also the daughter of an Indian Army martyr, made a Facebook post along with a photo of herself holding a placard saying "I am not afraid of ABVP". Her post turned into a campaign that went viral on social media and received a lot of appreciation and flak from many.
TWIST IN THE STORY
The matter escalated when cricketer Virender Sehwag, on seeing the photo of Kaur holding another placard that said, "Pakistan did not kill my father. War did!", made a sly tweet saying, "I didn't score two triple centuries, my bat did". We don't know yet whether Sehwag knew that this image of Kaur was from May 2016 and is a screen grab taken from a video campaign by activist Ram Subramaniam to build cordial relationship with Pakistan, or whether he knowingly pulled the image out of context. Sehwag's tweet shifted the entire attention from DU violence, professors and students beaten up, Kaur's campaign against ABVP, she being threatened with rape and death, to other issues - her father's martyrdom, the Indian Army and of course, nationalism.
When Randeep Hooda cheered Sehwag by quoting the sly tweet he made, it got media attention as well. You can read the entire episode here, where Virender Sehwag and Randeep Hooda were accused of bullying the 20-year-old girl.
SOCIAL MEDIA ON FIRE
Not just social media, even news channels were on fire the entire day covering the issue, now being referred to as 'Gurmehar Row'. Social media users, especially Twitterati, took out time from their busy schedules to laud Kaur for standing up for her beliefs, some to criticise her for misusing her father's martyrdom (which, by the way, wasn't the issue at all), and others talking about how Pakistan indeed was the reason behind the Kargil War. From students to lawyers to senior journalists, Twitter was filled with tweets about Gurmehar Kaur that her name started trending. Now, there are over 55,000 tweets about her.
REVELATIONS
As time passed by, it was figured out that Kaur's father Captain Mandeep Singh was not killed during the Kargil War but made the supreme sacrifice while fighting militants. People who were going on rants against Kaur for saying Pakistan did not kill her father also got to know the entire story behind that placard.
READ ALSO: Facebook post goes viral: Not afraid of ABVP, says Kargil martyr's daughter
ENTER BABITA PHOGAT
When journalist Rana Ayyub took a jibe at Randeep Hooda's statement that Kaur "is being used as a political pawn" saying the latter is from Haryana and he is doing his bit in liberating women, it didn't go down well with Babita Phogat among many others. She responded to Ayyub saying "We Phogat sisters are from Haryana too. What do you know about Haryana?"
Ayyub urged Babita to speak and stand up for Gurmehar Kaur, but Babita responded saying, "Is it right to talk in favour of someone who doesn't talk in favour of her nation?"
