Opinion: Has Virender Sehwag Crossed Line By Trolling a 20-year-old Girl?
Feb 27, 2017 at 4:58 PM
Virender Sehwag’s tweet in response to the campaign started by Delhi University’s student Gurmehar Kaur on the violence in Ramjas College last week has divided the social media in two parts.
Days after the campus violence, Gurmehar – daughter of Kargil martyr Captain Mandeep Singh – changed her Facebook profile picture holding a placard which read: “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP”.
A year ago, she had also participated in a video in which she held up yet another placard that read, “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him”.
Meanwhile, Gurmehar’s stand against the violent attacks in the Ramjas college has caused quite a stir on the social media and Sehwag too weighed in with his opinion. And while his tweet did not refer to Gurmehar directly, it is quite clear that it was directed towards the student.
The former swashbuckling opener tweeted a photo of himself holding a placard which read: “I didn’t score two triple centuries, my bat did” and saying “Bat me hai Dum!” along with #BharatJaisiJagahNahi.
Bat me hai Dum !#BharatJaisiJagahNahi pic.twitter.com/BNaO1LBHLH
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) February 26, 2017
As expected, Sehwag’s tweet has been supported by certain sections of the society but he is also facing a widespread criticism for the same. So the question arises whether Sehwag’s stance on the whole episode was justified and whether his motive to take a dig at the student who is trying to put an end to the violence is correct?
The country has a penchant of converting every major incident into a political issue and so how can one expect that such a huge issue would get spared? The fight had taken place between members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and All India Students Association (AISA) over an invitation sent to JNU’s Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid for a cultural event. The ABVP has been accused of physically assaulting students and teachers.
And now Gurmehar is seen by many as a political pawn who is trying to tarnish the image of the right-wing party. Well, one cannot stop people from making remarks on any issue but a role model like Sehwag should have thought at least once before making such a comment.
The sportspersons across the world enjoy a cult status and in our country where cricket is no less than a religion, the cricketers are treated as demigods. People of all age group simply adore the cricketers and Sehwag is no different. Millions of fans across the nation follow him earnestly and so there is no denying the fact that every action of his will make a huge impact. In such a case, the 38-year old should have acted like a role model and should have stopped himself from making a nasty jibe at a 20-year old student who was taking a stand for a noble cause.
Moreover, mocking the girl for a message that sends out such strong words across the two nations is totally uncalled for. The girl was very much right in saying that war had killed her father not the country across the border but Sehwag, who has made a habit of making a joke out of everything, tried to belittle that message.
The Nawab of Najafgarh had defeated the best of bowlers during his playing career but it is quite safe to say that today he has lost against a 20-year old girl.