Gurmehar Kaur, a 20-year-old student at Delhi University in India, recently posted a picture of herself on social media holding a placard saying: “Pakistan did not kill my dad. War killed him.” The statement was a perfectly succinct encapsulation of an anti-war message from the daughter of an Indian soldier killed in the Kargil War. That didn’t stop a campaign of bullying. Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag mocked her by posting a tweet where he was holding a similar placard saying “I didn’t score two triple centuries, my bat did.” Other celebrities and politicians started piling on. A BJP MP compared her to Dawood Ibrahim and members of the ABVP – the student wing of a coalition of Hindutva parties – even threatened to rape her. Kaur’s ordeal is a symbol of the growing intolerance for any dissent in Modi’s India. The far-right Hindu nationalists, operating under the Sangh Parivar banner, are determined to browbeat anyone who deviates from their ideology. There is no need to relitigate the Kargil War to understand that the daughter of a slain soldier has the right to express an opinion without becoming the target of hate. The reaction from the religious right is similar to that against the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, when the police and the political class went after students protesting the execution of Afzal Guru.
The bullying campaign against Kaur comes in the backdrop of tension between the left-wing All India Students Association and the ABVP. In recent weeks, hundreds of students from Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University have taken to the streets to protests against the rising influence of the ABVP and its intolerance for dissent. In response, two ABVP members were arrested for trying to strangulate members of the AISA. The ABVP’s rape and death threats against Kaur also led her to withdraw from her social media campaign. The fight on Delhi’s campuses is one for the future of India. On one side are those who want India to be a pluralistic democracy that respects rights for all, regardless of religion or political orientation. On the other are those, led by the prime minister of India, who see the country as intrinsically Hindu and have no problem with overt bigotry against those of a different religion or caste. The rise of the bigoted right is not limited to India. From Trump’s America to Brexit to the anti-immigrant movements in Europe to the coordinated campaigns accusing activists of blasphemy in Pakistan, all around the world the parochial right-wing is gaining power and going after the likes of Gurmehar Kaur with a vengeance.