I am not your ‘Martyr’s Daughter’, Gurmehar Kaur writes in new blog post

Gurmehar Kaur, who shot to limelight in February after her Facebook post taking on the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP) went viral, introduced herself on her terms in a blog post titled ‘I am’.

In the post, she rejects the various stereotypes and characterisations pushed on her by the public, the media, celebrities and trolls.

She writes,

“Who am I?

A question, I could’ve answered without any inhibitions or a trace of wariness in my standard cheerful tone only a few weeks ago. Now, I’m not so sure.

Am I who the trolls think I am?

Am I what the media portrayed me as?

Am I what those celebrities think of me?“

Kaur had drawn flak after one of her older social media posts on her father, killed in Kashmir during the Kargil war, and her perceptions about Pakistan and war surfaced. “Pakistan did not kill my father. War killed him,” read one part of the post. Clashes had erupted last week after the ABVP allegedly manhandled and thrashed students protesting the cancellation of an event at Ramjas College at which controversial JNU student Umar Khalid was scheduled to speak.

In her post, she asserts, “I’m an idealist. An athlete. A peacenik. I’m not your angry, vindictive …read more