Gurmehar Kaur row: Javed Akhtar calls Sehwag 'hardly literate player', draws flak from Madhur Bhandarkar

The Gurmehar Kaur row continues to take Twitter by storm as latest to get indulged in a war of words are Bollywood celebrities like Madhur Bhandarkar and Javed Akhtar. 

Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar has slammed Virendra Sehwag calling him a ‘hardly literate player’ and has received the backlash of filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, who says “education has nothing to do with freedom of expression.”

Akhtar also hit out at Union minister Kiren Rijiju for his remark against Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, calling it “grossly biased”.
He also took a dig at cricketer Virender Sehwag and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who trolled Kaur after her campaign “I am not afraid of ABVP” went viral.

“If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr it’s understandable but what’s wrong with some educated folks,” Akhtar tweeted.

If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr its understandable but whats wrong with some educated folks

— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) February 28, 2017

To his tweet, Bhandarkar replied, "Sir Lack of education has nothing to do with freedom of expression.I am a 6th fail student,still nobody can stop me from expressing my views."

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Kaur, 20, the daughter of army martyr Captain Mandeep Singh and a student of Lady Sri Ram College, had started the campaign following the violence at Ramjas College.

It received massive support from students across various universities. Rijiju had taken to Twitter to criticise Kaur.

Sir Lack of education has nothing to do with freedom of expression.I am a 6th fail student,still nobody can stop me from expressing my views https://t.co/7rD9qfKu5f

— Madhur Bhandarkar (@imbhandarkar) February 28, 2017

“Who’s polluting this young girl’s mind? Strong armed forces prevent a war. India never attacked anyone but a weak India was always invaded,” the minister of state for home had said.

Responding to Rijiju’s comment, Akhtar tweeted, “Mr minister, you have condemned the left by falsely accusing them for celebrating soldiers killing n not a word about AVBP.  Grossly biased.”

“I don’t (know) about her but Mr Minister I know who is polluting your mind,” the 71-year-old lyricist added.

Gurmehar Kaur, 20, became the centre of a controversy after launching a social media campaign against ABVP and withdrawing the protest after alleged rape threats and virulent social media backlash. 

Kaur is the daughter of Capt. Mandeep Singh who was killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on August 6, 1999, four days after Pakistani troops withdrew from Kargil.

As the controversy grew, Kaur pulled out her campaign and left for Jalandhar to be with her family, requesting that she should to be “left alone”.

In a series of tweets, Kaur announced her decision saying she has been through a lot and “this is all my 20 year self could take (sic)”.
Kaur earlier urged people not to identify her as a “martyr’s daughter” if that bothers them.

(With inputs from PTI)