New Delhi/Nagpur: Even as the overnight star of the Indian political scene aka JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar came out in the open air after 21 days of jail, nothing seems to have changed, for Kanhaiya and even for those who voice in his support. Renowned journalist Barkha Dutt had to face the heat of the nationalist extremism as she penned her concern for Kanhaiya after he was freed from Tihar jail.
Barkha allegedly received threat calls as soon as her article on a news portal was posted. But she was not the one to take this filth. Retorting on Twitter, she made it a point to consciously clip the abusive words while questioning the so called nationalists move against here.
She tweeted – “The Threats begin. Anonymous calls today calling me a M*****F*****G B***** on, “Afzal lovers Gang” whose family should die. ‘Nationalists’?”
The Threats begin. Anonymous calls today calling me a M*****F*****G B***** on, “Afzal lovers Gang” whose family should die. ‘Nationalists’?
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) March 4, 2016
From her tweet, it was clearly evident that the underlying forces are still active to gag any such move which can spark fresh new flames. In her tweet, Barkha also mentioned the tidbits of her piece which became the bone of contention for some hidden political forces. In her another tweet, she quoted Kanhaiya as saying, “Ab main bhi likhoonga apni kahaani.” She tweeted – ‘I will write my own story now. I was made the victim of a media trial.’ Kanhaiya tells me.
In her article Barkha narrated her meeting with Kanhaiya post her release from the jail. She wrote, “More than the violence unleashed on him by lumpen lawyers, what really seemed to bother him were the fake videos and morphed pictures about him. We spoke of how his case had polarised not just politics but India’s television media like never before. He made a few jokes about prime time anchors who use patriotism as a shield for blusterous slander. “You weren’t all like that, I watched and read everything in jail,” Kanhaiya said. “The truth will prevail. I know this is a long battle and I am ready for it,” he said, before being whisked away by his minders out of the back door.”
In the later course of her write up, Barkha Dutt also commented on the polity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in dealing with his issue. She minced no words as shw wrote, “The ghar wapasi (homecoming) of Kanhaiya has delivered some home truths to the Narendra Modi government. Their clumsy overreach and mindless muscle-flexing on an issue that was best left for university authorities to tackle has given birth to a new political star. This was evident in Kanhaiya’s mesmerising 60-minute speech later that evening. Till then, channels had been occupied with debating who had won the speech wars in Parliament – Prime Minister Modi or Rahul Gandhi. Now, the answer was clear; even if you disagreed with every word he said in his speech and irrespective of whom you voted for, its mix of defiance, idealism, hope and humour gave top billing to Kanhaiya.”
Dutt finds online back up
Soon after the article went on the news site and social media, Barkha Dutt alleged that she got threat calls from unknown callers who have been using abusive languages too.
Her supporters have also stormed the twitter world by calling for immediate action in the matter.
One of his supporters tweeted – Police must act swiftly and protect @BDUTT and find the culprits. Another wrote – Dear @DelhiPolice -she forgot to tag you. Can you please enquire and find who is bothering her and pls arrest those
