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Her views don't represent those of martyrs or their children: Randeep Hooda REACTS to Gurmehar Kaur

Randeep Hooda refused to back down in the row over Gurmehar Kaur.

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Gurmehar Kaur and Randeep Hooda
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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 Virender Sehwag and actor Randeep Hooda who called her a "political pawn". 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. 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 barrage 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.

Read his full text below: 

Don’t hang me over a laugh!

Viru cracked a joke and I admit I laughed. Damn!! He is so witty and this is one of the other million things he’s said that has made me crack up. That was it!!

But now, lo and behold, I'm being held responsible for instigating hate threats against a young girl, shockingly by the girl herself. That’s absolutely untrue. That was never our intention and our tweets is not the source of all the hate she might be receiving.

She spoke up, she stood for something she believes in, so then, she must also have the courage and fortitude to listen to the voices against it. To point fingers at someone else (in this case me) and hold him responsible for the reactions to her actions is not right. I have absolutely nothing against her and strongly believe that violence is wrong. Threatening a woman with violence is an even more heinous crime and the perpetrators should be brought to task with the most severe punishment.

I like her video of peace between warring nations. It’s noble. But that’s not the point in contention, is it ? She has the right to protest against what she feels is wrong and it’s also Viru’s right to make a joke about it. We live in a democracy and enjoy the right to freedom of expression! Accusing us of bullying and trolling the girl is wrong.

She wasn’t tagged in his joke nor in my amusement. But some journalists, among others, are trying hard to give this all kinds of colours to malign us and prove their point. They want to attach labels to us to further their agendas. That’s bullying and if you think you can bully us, you have another thing coming.

How’s the DU violence connected to her appeal against war? How's Viru's wit connected to supporting violence? The point is that it’s not, but is very pointedly being manipulated into being so.

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. And it is my personal opinion that people shouldn’t fire their guns from young, impressionable shoulders. Students should study, debate and learn from these exchanges. They are the future of our nation and I'm not worried about our future because we have such brave and outspoken youngsters around.


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!!

With this I'd like to end my engagement with this particular topic.

Jai Hind

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