Gurmehar Kaur

Gurmehar Kaur (born 24 September 1996) is an Indian student activist and author.[4] Graduating from Lady Shri Ram College, she pursued her masters from Somerville College, University of Oxford. Kaur is also an ambassador for Postcards for Peace, a UK-based charitable organisation that helps eliminate any form of discrimination.[5]

Gurmehar Kaur
Kaur with the author Happymon Jacob at the book launch of The Line of Control: Travelling with the Indian and Pakistani Armies
Born (1996-09-24) 24 September 1996[1][2][3]
Jalandhar, Punjab, India
NationalityIndian
EducationB.A. (Hons.) in English literature at Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi
Alma materSomerville College, Oxford

Gurmehar Kaur came in the limelight as she was a part of the 'Save DU campaign' following the February 2017 clashes at Ramjas College between members of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) when JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora were invited for a campus seminar. Earlier, she was in the news due to a video she released.

In October 2017, Time magazine used the phrase "free speech warrior" in expressing their opinion of Kaur and included her in their "10 Next Generation Leaders" list for 2017.[6] Her debut, a memoir, called Small Acts of Freedom which was published in January 2018 by Penguin Random House, was shortlisted for the Sahitya Akademi YUVA Puraskar in 2020.[7][8][9]

Early life

Gurmehar Kaur was born to Rajvinder Kaur and Captain Mandeep Singh in Jalandhar.[5] She completed her education at Harvest International School, Ludhiana. Her father, Mandeep Singh, was one of the seven Indian Army personnel martyred at 1:15 am IST after a Rashtriya Rifle camp was attacked by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir on 6 August 1999.[10] Kaur holds a degree in Literature from Lady Shri Ram College for Women. She pursued her MSc in Modern South Asian Studies from the Somerville College, Oxford University.[11][12]

Controversies

Indo-Pak peace message video
Gurmehar Kaur (left) at an Amnesty International event, Conversations 18', in New Delhi. Shehla Rashid (right) also pictured.

On 28 April 2016, a video was uploaded to Facebook by Voice of Ram (Ram Subramanian), featuring Gurmehar Kaur.[13] The video was also uploaded to YouTube by Voice of Ram.[14] Gurmehar Kaur launched the #ProfileForPeace campaign in April 2016, questioning the calibre of leadership of India and Pakistan in the video, and advocating "peace" between India and Pakistan. She styled herself as a "soldier for peace" fighting against war.

The video went viral[15] in February 2017, after Gurmehar came forward with a social media message against ABVP at Delhi University, a student federation belonging to the Sangh Parivar.[16][17] It attracted much controversy and ridicule, particularly a statement: "Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him."[18]

In 2017, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs of India Kiren Rijiju commented on her video that "Some Political forces are behind her statements (Spoiling the minds of the students)".[19] Former cricketer Virender Sehwag posted an image saying, "I didn't score triple centuries, my bat did".[20] Javed Akhtar also commented on this issue as he counterattacked on all those who were against Gurmehar.[21]

Gurmehar's mother showed support for her daughter clarifying that "Her message in the video should be seen in a larger perspective. What she actually wanted to say was that war always brings destruction. I never wanted her to look at people of Pakistan or any other country with hatred. Situations make people kill each other during a war."[22]

Save DU Campaign

She was virtually part of Save DU campaign against ABVP in February 2017 in which she opposed the violence that erupted at the Ramjas College Campus after the lectures of Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid Shora were cancelled due to ABVP's protest.[23] She received death and rape threats for starting this campaign and later on she left the campaign.[24][3]

Books
  • Small Acts of Freedom (2018), Penguin Random House
  • The Young and the Restless (Youth and Politics in India) (2019), Penguin Books

References
  1. @mehartweets (24 September 2017). "Raising hell for peace-Writer-@Time'Next Gen Leader'-@UniOfOxford Specialising in South Asian Studies" (Tweet). Retrieved 17 August 2020 – via Twitter.
  2. "Gurmehar Kaur on Instagram: 'I don't know about you but I'm not feeling 22 🎵 Here's to turning 23 in one of the oldest most beautiful libraries in the world surrounded by the loveliest people.'". Instagram. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. "Who is Gurmehar Kaur? What's the ongoing #SaveDU campaign all about? All your questions answered". 28 February 2017.
  4. "Who is Gurmehar Kaur?". The Hindu. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  5. "Who is Gurmehar Kaur? What's the ongoing #SaveDU campaign all about? All your questions answered". The Indian Express. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  6. Sources:
  7. "Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2020 Press Releases" (PDF). Sahitya Akademi.
  8. Santhanam, Radhika (20 January 2018). "Small Acts of Freedom review: Memories and reality". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  9. "Gurmehar Kaur's 'Small Acts of Freedom' to be published soon". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  10. Sehgal, Manjeet. "All about Gutmehar Kaur's Father Captain Mandeep Singh". M.indiatoday.in.
  11. Yerasala, Ikyatha (31 July 2019). "Young, restless and bold". The Asian Age. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  12. "Gurmehar Kaur, Author at Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust". Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Trust. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  13. "Log in or Sign Up to View". www.facebook.com.
  14. Voice Of Ram (28 April 2016). "Gurmehar kaur Soldier of peace" – via YouTube.
  15. "Anurag Kashyap speaks on Gurmehar Kaur row, says social media is being used for political polarisation". Inuth.com. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
  16. "Meet Gurmehar Kaur, the DU student and martyr's daughter who took on ABVP | delhi". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  17. "Virender Sehwag Defends Himself Over Gurmehar Kaur Issue in 3 Tweets – NDTV Sports". Sports.ndtv.com. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  19. "Why Gurmehar Kaur is wrong and why it's dangerous to tag everyone who disagrees with her a 'troll'". Firstpost. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  20. "Gurmehar Kaur straight bats Sehwag, asks if its ok to make fun of a fathers death". Indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  21. Akhtar, Javed (1 March 2017). "Javed Akhtar Says Gurmehar Kaur Trolled By 'Hardly Literate Player, Wrestler'". NDTV India. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  22. "Gurmehar Kaur's mother to India Today: It pains when she's called anti-national, proud of what she did". India Today. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  23. "Delhi Police fails to identify suspects who threatened Gurmehar Kaur". India Today. Retrieved 4 March 2017.
  24. "Rape threats: cops yet to identify suspects". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
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