Former Maj General GD Bakshi's speech equated to 'hate-mongering' by IIT-Madras student

Retired Major Army General GD Bakshi courted controversy on Thursday because of his speech in IIT Madras which was strewn with “jingoism”, alleged Abhinav Surya, an IITian in a letter to the institute director . According to The News Minute, Surya, who was present at the event where Bakshi was delivering his speech on the eve of ‘Special Independence Day Lecture’, equated it “hate mongering”. [caption id=“attachment_2951654” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of GD Bakshi. News18[/caption] In the letter, Surya wrote, “I am still not able to digest the fact the institute has given platform to such a speech filled with hatred, instigating violence among the students. A lecture that was heavily loaded with brewing enmity, inhumanity and glorification of brutality.” According to The News Indian Express, which has access to the full letter, Surya quotes Bakshi’s speech where the Major General urges the present generation to split Pakistan into four after their generation were successful in splitting Pakistan into two. Bakshi said, “In our generation, we split Pakistan into two. Your generation should split it into four. Only then we can live in peace!” According to Surya, the lowest point of the speech was when Bakshi mocked the freedom movement of India while asserting the fact that it was actually the Indian Army who brought freedom and that Ahimsa is “nonsense”. This ‘hate speech’ comes in the wake of the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle  controversy which had rocked the IIT Madras campus in 2015. Students of the institute had protested over an Indology conference, accusing the central government of trying to ‘saffronise’ the campus. Bakshi — known for his fiery, aggressive speeches —  is a vocal supporter of the actions taken by the Army in Kashmir. He frequently appears on live news debate and in one of his frequent appearances he broke down during a debate over the Centre’s mandate on hoisting the national flag in every central university.