When stones were being pelted at Ramjas college students three months ago, Gurmehar Kaur, a first year literature student was scripting a revolution.
Twenty year old Gurmehar Kaur, an Ambassador for Postcards for Peace, heard horrid stories from her friends who attended a seminar in Ramjas College. The Literature Department organised the seminar with Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid. The right-wing student union group, however, was not very pleased and resorted to violence in protest. Aghast, she tore a page from her 17th century literature textbook and wrote this message:
“I am a student from Delhi University.
I am not afraid of ABVP.
I am not alone, Every Indian student is with me.
#StudentsAgainstABVP”
She took a photograph and uploaded it on her social media platforms. Instantly her close friends picked it up and shared it on theirs too. Within a few hours, the social media effort translated into a full-fledged on-field movement.
The movement, which was aimed at restoring peace in a university, was misconstrued into a hate campaign and the girl was termed ‘anti-national’. In the process, the issue was sidelined, and Gurmehar Kaur became the news.
Her previous exploits on social media, her private life, became the talking points for troublemakers of the country. They discussed her over chai, and neighed at the fact that ‘her mind had been polluted’.
What was Gurmehar Kaur going through amidst this ‘national crisis’? The incessant trolling wouldn’t stop and her image of being an ‘ultimate anti-national’ was being conceived.
In a tell-all interview, Gurmehar Kaur sheds light on life after trolls.
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