Ramjas College Row: Chetan Bhagat, Rahul Gandhi, Twitterati react to Gurmehar Kaur pulling out of ‘Save DU’ campaign

While there were some voices that supported her, especially university students, she faced a lot of brickbat all across funnily enough not for the current campaign, but an old screenshot of a video she’s done for Voice of Ram, where she holds a placard saying, “Pakistan didn’t kill my dad, the war did.”

After social media and offline lashing and even rape threats, Kaur withdrew herself from the campaign expounding on her decision through a series of tweets. “I’m withdrawing from the campaign. Congratulations everyone. I request to be left alone. I said what I had to say.. I have been through a lot and this is all my 20 year self could take :)” she tweeted Tuesday morning.

READ MORE HERE | Gurmehar Kaur withdraws from Save DU campaign, says ‘been through a lot’

Soonafter, several bigwigs tweeted out to her, reassuring her that she had taken a stand for something she’d believed in, and she should be proud of that. As expected, many are also from the Congress or the party’s supporters.

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Relax. You did just fine. Whether we may agree with your opinion or not, will always stand up for your right to have and express views. https://t.co/xh5UmQgPeq

— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) February 28, 2017

Against the tyranny of fear we stand with our students.For every voice raised in anger, intolerance &ignorance there will be a Gurmehar Kaur

— Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 27, 2017

@mehartweets standing up to bullies is required and you did that! Your father would’ve been proud of you like all of us! More power to you!

— Anshul Trivedi (@anshultrivedi47) February 28, 2017

Very shameful for democratic India: we can not digest genuine outburst of a young girl @mehartweets and try to torture her publicly. SHAME.

— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) February 28, 2017

There’s a girl who has the guts of fictional Rupali taking a stand in DU. More power to Gurmehar Kaur.

— Ravinder Singh (@_RavinderSingh_) February 27, 2017

Hounding of & threats to @mehartweets by Sanghi trolls tells how effective she is. Like her father, she is a brave person. More power to her

— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 26, 2017

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Gurmehar Kaur is withdrawing from the campaign. Rana ji ko follow back tak nahi diya, sab mehnat bekaar :(

— The-Lying-Lama (@KyaUkhaadLega) February 28, 2017

@mehartweets dont see it as a withdrawal. you have shown courage,m spunk and dignity and made your point. More than.

— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) February 28, 2017

@mehartweets I wish ppl would appreciate opinions however different they may be. Take care pic.twitter.com/vq75vjg4TD

— roshanabbas (@roshanabbas) February 28, 2017

But there are two sides to everything and for every positive comment, there is a troll. This was no different. But what is interesting to note that the problem here doesn’t seem to be with the placard she’s holding up now, but one singular placard she had held last year in a video. The question this raises is that is it really right for everyone to haul up someone over a statement made a year ago and take it out of context? The video was meant to be a peace message between India and Pakistan, questioning the government of both countries.

Watch it here.

So, all those who rallied against Kaur, calling her an anti-national, they seem to be reacting to the old photo, and as far as the new one is concerned, there is very little that’s being said or opined over. Maybe that should say something about our propensity – including that of our beloved celebrity intellectuals – to simply lambast or ridicule without thinking things through.