NEW DELHI: In a controversial move, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday posted on twitter a video of a jawan in which he is seen giving a politically loaded statement against those sympathising with the likes of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru and a section of JNU students critical of the September 29 surgical strikes by Indian special forces inside PoK.
The minister has resorted to posting a video of a jawan whose speech in camouflage pattern uniform is apparently against the service conditions and had first appeared in January last year,
Adding his comment to the video post, Rijiju tweeted, “Pain runs deeper than the Ocean. Very sad that our jawans are forced to speak with heavy heart.”Apparently, the video is aimed at garnering public support against a section of Delhi University students who have ignited a razing debate on the issue of nationalism and major Opposition parties supporting them.
“We fight against terrorism, Maoists to keep our country safe. But now it looks like the biggest threat is from traitors who live in this country but give slogans of Bharat murdabad,” the jawan Shriram is seen telling a large audience in the video.
“We don’t feel sad to see Afzal Guru being hanged. But we are sad to see people chant slogans that Afzal hum sharminda hain, tere qatil zinda hai,” he further says in the video, clearly referring to a controversial event at JNU last year that triggered a major row over nationalism.
The Minister’s tweet and the video comes in the backdrop of the ongoing political controversy over violent clashes between the students’ unions backed by the Leftists and the Rightist over an event at Ramjas College of the Delhi University’s North Campus.
“We feel sad when thousands of people come out in support of such people (Afzal Guru sympathizers). I feel sad when thousands of people join the funeral procession of a terrorist,” the jawan concluded in his 146 seconds video.
Rijiju has been taking digs on the twitter at a student of Lady Shri Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur who is reportedly the daughter of a Kargil martyr. The soldier’s video posted by Rijiju has come weeks after a social media post by a BSF jawan Tej Bahadur claiming supply of poor quality food to the jawans posted along the border and LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. The BSF jawan’s video had created a nationwide controversy and he is facing a Court of Inquiry for airing grievances through social networking platforms.