Nationalism Vs Anti Nationalism

Disclaimer – These are purely my thoughts and I strongly believe on them. Yours may differ and again, I may or may not agree with your views. So, surge ahead with caution.

Exactly, one year ago.

Jawaharlal National University or JNU which is in Delhi witnessed something new. Some slogans were raised which were about Kashmir’s independence and Afzal Guru’s conviction. Slogans like “Bharat tere tukde honge”, “Tum jitney afzal maroge, har ghar se afzal niklega” and likewise were raised.

Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid were booked under anti national charges among another one. They are out on bail.

I mentioned about these two only because they hogged limelight the most.

Let me clear out the matter for those unaware of these two things.

First, Jammu and Kashmir was merged into India but with some special acts which granted some extra powers to the state. The ruler of Jammu and Kashmir accepted the accession to India. So, no one should even think of freedom from India but even then, the protest for so called freedom from India has kept on going since 1947. Such freedom protests aren’t held in any part of Jammu or its districts but only in Kashmir. Jammu is about 300 km away from Kashmir by road. So, why isn’t anyone from Jammu vouching for freedom from India? Why is it that only people from Kashmir want freedom?

Second, Afzal guru was convicted for 2001 Parliament attack and thus, was given death sentence by the court after years of trials. He was executed by hanging. So, one thing is clear that he is a terrorist in all ways possible. There’s nothing to debate on it.

The same thing has happened this year also, although some slogans were different and place was changed. The place now was Ramjas College that’s in Delhi. This time, the slogans were like “Kashmir maange azadi”, “Bastar maange azadi”.

The basic premise of why this happened is because Umar Khalid, yes the same Umar Khalid that was in the JNU row last year, was invited for a speech. SERIOUSLY.

Bastar is a naxalite Maoist area while Kashmir is a terrorism prone area.

Because of these slogans, clash took place between ABVP and AISI where both are now accusing each other of provoking violence.

There are videos on YouTube about the clashes although I don’t vouch for their authenticity or align with them.

I AM AGAINST ANY TYPE OF VIOLENCE AND CONDEMN IT.

Violence shouldn’t happen at any cost.

In between all this, a girl out of the blue named “Gurmehar Kaur” came forward with a video against the violence that happened and mostly accusing ABVP. She is the daughter of a Kargil martyr. One of the placards that she held in the video had written on it “Pakistan didn’t kill my dad. War did”.

Now, the thing is that India hasn’t ever initiated a war in its history and it’s known to all. So, even though the war did kill her dad, it was the Pakistan which initiated the war and therefore, Pakistan is the sole reason for her dad’s death.

In a way, she is questioning her father’s martyrdom and all those who died for the country in Kargil war because according to her, the war’s the reason.

Gurmehar Kaur is also supporting the protests by AISI. It’s the same AISI which agitated over the cancellation of seminar by Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid.

Virender Sehwag took a dig at her these words and Randeep Hooda supported him but they were attacked on twitter for this.

Also, Gurmehar Kaur stated that she got threats of rape from ABVP.

I AM ONCE AGAIN AGAINST THIS. THOSE WHO THREATENED HER WITH RAPE AREN’T NATIONALISTS.

Points to be noted from the above happenings are –

• IT TAKES TWO TO MAKE A ROW.

Had Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid not been invited for a speech in seminar, no protests would have happened at all and everything would have gone peacefully.

• FREEDOM OF SPEECH DOESN’T GIVE YOU THE AUTHORITY TO SPEAK AGAINST YOUR MOTHERLAND.

There’s a line between Freedom of Speech and Speaking against the country. You breach that line and you will be condemned. At no cost, raising slogans in favour of a terrorist or for a state’s independence from the country come under freedom of speech.

• EVERYONE HAS GOT FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND NOT JUST A PARTICULAR GENDER, CASTE OR SECTION OF SOCIETY.

If Gurmehar Kaur using freedom of speech kept her views, Virender Sehwag and Randeep Hooda too, are free to keep their views. If they get opposed for their views, then even Gurmehar’s views can be opposed.

Most of the media channels have shifted their focus to only the rape threats and the violent clash. The main topic has taken a back seat.

Why do students raise such slogans at the first place?

Why is “Freedom of Speech” misused?

If you term raising Kashmir’s independence’s slogans or any anti – national slogan as freedom of speech, then SORRY. I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH YOU.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS?