Ramjas College row: Trolls should stop demeaning brave Gurmehar Kaur, Ram Subramanian tells Firstpost

Students of Delhi University took to the streets on Tuesday protesting ABVP’s alleged hooliganism on the campus. Students from across various colleges affiliated to the university gathered at the North campus, chanting slogans of “azaadi from ABVP gundagardi” and “Go back ABVP”. The protest has now gained steam following voices of support from intellectuals like Yogendra Yadav and Opposition parties like the Congress and the Left. Meanwhile, the poster girl of the “Save DU” movement, 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur, has withdrawn from the protests after receiving rape threats from right-wing trolls over her video urging peace between India and Pakistan. She has also decided to leave Delhi. However, Gurmehar has urged fellow students to support the movement. Reacting sharply to the development, Ram Subramanian, the founder of Voice of Ram, slammed trolls for forcing her to take such a decision. Voice of Ram is the Facebook page on which the video had been posted in May 2016. “India needs to feel ashamed that a young girl who was fighting for the safety of women in India and in the colleges of Delhi was forced to quit the city,” Ram told Firstpost. He continued, “This is an issue very close to Gurmehar. The awareness of women safety must begin at the college campuses and the fact that rape threats are being issued is deeply saddening.” Commending the Lady Shri Ram College student for her courage, Ram said what she stood for is a very big cause. The whole fiasco began amid the Ramjas College clash after Gurmehar had 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.” However, the issue snowballed into that of nationalism after her video stressing for peace between India and Pakistan resurfaced online. [caption id=“attachment_3307330” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gurmehar Kaur. Agencies[/caption] Talking about the 2015 video by Gurmehar, which is now in the eye of the storm, Ram said that the video was shot as he wanted to tell her story to the world. In the video, she blamed the 1999 Kargil war and not Pakistan for her father’s martyrdom. When asked how he came in contact with Gurmehar, Ram said, “She (Gurmehar) was part of the “Profiles for Peace” campaign as part of my India-Pakistan peace initiative. I called her to Mumbai and shot her video.” On being asked if he ever thought that the 2016 video would receive negative reactions from online trolls and politicians, Ram rubbished the trolls and advised them to stop demeaning her. “If these people feel they have done more than what Gurmehar’s family has done for the country, they can very well join a debate on nationalism,” he said. “I have not received any negative feedback on the video. All that I have received is good views from all across the world, that she is a brave girl and has made everyone proud,” he added. Regretting the change in narrative, Ram slammed Gurmehar’s detractors for diverting the debate from women safety in Delhi to nationalism. On his Voice of Ram initiative, the ad man said that the page was created to voice his opinions on issues which matter to him. “I speak about peace, politics, and social change. But I realise that a lot of social change is about political change also. I am a creative person who likes these things,” the Mumbai-based activist said. Ram said that his last campaign was on saving Aarey colony from encroachment. Urging youngsters to join the protest, Ram said," Let the establishment know that we need safer campuses in across the country." Here is the message in support of the protesting students.