QRant: Shame on You Sehwag & Randeep Hooda! More Power to Gurmehar

Trolls surrounding Gurmehar Kaur’s open challenge to the ABVP need some serious reckoning.

(Photo: The Quint)

“I am a student of Delhi University and I am not afraid of ABVP.”

“I am the daughter of a Kargil martyr. Pakistan did not kill my father, war did.”

This is what 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur wrote on social media.

And it angered Cricketer Virender Sehwag, who targeted her by tweeting, “I didn’t score my runs, my bat did”.

Actor Randeep Hooda added his 2 paisa, by tweeting congratulatory messages to Sehwag.

Welcome to sexist Twitter. Obviously, a 20-year-old woman, with a mind of her own, is dangerous to these men.

While India’s keyboard nationalists trolled Gurmehar, called her anti-nationalist, and sent her rape threats… she did not stoop to their level.

While they called her a ‘prop’ and a ‘pawn’ working for JNU's ‘Azadi’ army… her responses stayed dignified.

The 20-year-old could not have anticipated rape threats in response to a peaceful campaign, or that an icon like Sehwag would come after her.. belittle her!

But rape threats sell like hot cakes on Twitter; one for every champion of free speech. Do you guys really think this can silence her, or us? No, nothing will. The greatest threat to authoritarianism is independent thought. And Gurmehar – just 20 – stands for that. It’s just too much for our patriarchs to digest. To all you hate-mongering anger-spewing nationalists on Twitter, here’s a student holding up a mirror to your bigotry.

Shame on you Virender Sehwag, shame on you Randeep Hooda. More power to Gurmehar Kaur… and yes her father, would be very very proud of her!

Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
Camera: Shiv Kumar Maurya