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“Not your Martyr’s Daughter”: Gurmehar Kaur replies to haters in this powerful blogpost

DU student Gurmehar Kaur, who made headlines during the Ramjas violence, gives a piece of her mind to her haters in a blog post.

If you thought you could silence her, you were wrong. DU student Gurmehar Kaur, who made headlines during the Ramjas violence, gives a piece of her mind to her haters in a blog post. The 20-year-old girl, who dared to take a stand against ABVP, was heavily criticised for her “controversial” statement, taken wildly out of context. She faced criticism and threats from people who had never even met her when she held a placard that read,  “Pakistan did not kill my dad, the war did.”

She was perceived as an anti-national for advocating peace between the two feuding neighbours. Instead of answering every soul that pointed a finger at her, Gurmehar has written a blog post to silence all who would question her at once. Kaur shared her blog saying, “You’ve read about me, made assumptions based on articles. Here in my own words. My first blog titled “I am”.”

You’ve read about me, made assumptions based on articles.
Here in my own words.
My first blog titled “I am”

https://t.co/hU3ojWb0L7

— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) April 11, 2017

In her blog titled ‘I Am’, Gurmehar talks about how the response she got for her viral placard campaign shook her opinion of herself. “Am I who the trolls think I am? Am I what the media portrayed me as? Am I what those celebrities think of me?” she writes.

She talks about how the media presented a mere “father’s daughter” as a “Martyr’s daughter”. For those who ask themselves what the difference between the two is, it is that Gurmehar Kaur, a young girl who lost her father at a very young age, is not your hero. She is not your role-model. She is not your political leader who needs to be concerned about our petty habits of extensively reading between the lines.

“I’m an idealist. An athlete. A peacenik. I’m not your angry, vindictive war mongering bechari you hoped me to be. I don’t want war because I know its price; it’s very expensive. Trust me I know better because I’ve paid it everyday. Still do.”

She writes about how her father may have been a valuable martyr to the nation but, to her, he was “the man who wore big cargo jackets with pockets full of sweets.”

“I know him as my father,” she states. “I also know him as the shoulder my tiny self clung to extremely tightly hoping if I held him strongly enough he won’t go. He went. He just didn’t come back”.

She ends her blog by saying, “My father is a martyr. I’m his daughter. But. I am not your “Martyr’s Daughter”.” Here is the full post.