Rijiju shares video of soldier raging at Afzal sympathisers

NEWDELHI: Junior home minister Kiren Rijiju refueled a raging debate on nationalism, tweeting on Wednesday a video of an Indian Army soldier lecturing against a section of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students and supporters of the 2001 Parliament attack convict.

The minister, who is a BJP parliamentarian from Arunachal Pradesh, drew flak on Monday when he posted an acerbic tweet against Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur, an army martyr’s daughter, for broadcasting her dislike for the right-wing ABVP.

Rijiju dug up an old video of soldier Shriram Gorde to hit out at his critics.

“Pain runs deeper than the Ocean. Very sad that our jawans are forced to speak with heavy heart,” he wrote in his message to go with the video.

Gorde is seen in the video speaking against sympathisers of the Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, who was hanged in February 2013, JNU students who held a rally during his death anniversary last year, and critics of the “surgical strike” last September against militants.

“We don’t feel sad to see Afzal Guru being hanged. But we are sad to see people chant slogans that ‘Afzal hum sharminda hai, tere qatil zinda hai’ (Afzal we are ashamed that your killer is still alive),” he says in the footage, referring to the controversial event at JNU that triggered a nationwide debate on nationalism.