5 Things To Learn From The Curious Case Of Gurmehar Kaur
It has been a while now since the Gurmehar Kaur case is doing rounds in the media. While we see a new reaction which causes a controversy almost every day, what is also worth noticing is how some opinionated camps are twisting facts of the case to further their agenda. This article does not seem to attempt a cause for any personal opinion, but bases its essence on the facts of the case. Let’s take a look at why Gurmehar Kaur case teaches us so many things, while it exposes others.
Why peace is important, not war — It all started after Gurmehar’s video blaming war and not Pakistan for her father’s death went viral. Not only politicians, but experts and even celebrities from various quarters of the society commented on the video. While a known former Indian Cricketer satirically undermined what Gurmehar said, an incumbent party’s politician went to the extent of comparing her with Dawood Ibrahim.
It is important here to note that the exact essence of the message was not to portray anti- national sentiments but to condemn war. Not just the war between India and Pakistan but all wars on all fronts. People till date condemn both the world wars because of a single fact- the massive number of lives lost and not because some emotional sentiments of the competing nations were involved. It is pertinent to understand that Gurmehar’s message should be purely taken as a promotion for peace and not some anti-national sentiments. It is peace which can stop loss of lives, and not war. Human life should be considered paramount.
A Regime of Intolerance — We have always been an intolerant society. Just that now every expression can use a deadly platform called media. While it is ‘okay’ for all sentiments to be portrayed and that everyone should be able to hear every opinion, it is also important that no opinion should be shadowed, hidden or shammed because it merely hurts the sentiments of a particularly powerful group.
Terming something anti-national just because of the fact that it does not align with your philosophy simply makes you anti- tolerant. If one changes the lens of perception, everything changes. Insecurities make you intolerant. It exposes the fact that one is hiding something.
Why Not Humanity? - Instead of complicating things by terming something left and something as right, isn’t it possible to examine things from the lens of humanity? Try it. It is easy. Anti national is termed as left, extreme national is termed as right. But how does any help us achieve anything but conflict? What if we preview everything on the basis of whether it harms life or not? It is okay to preserve a nation, and it is also okay to preserve cosmopolitanism. Everything is okay until human lives are not harmed. Everything is okay until human lives are not lost. I am not discarding the philosophies of left and right, what I am discarding is the potential harmful actions that these philosophies carry with themselves.
Not Everyone is a Pawn for Someone — Every popular reaction in India is termed as politically colored. What if it is original? How on earth have politicians who have termed Gurmehar’s reactions as motivated forgotten that she lost her father in war when she was only two? No they have not forgotten. Coloring something with an agenda simply ensures political mileage. And the debate moves from the facts of the case to agendas. And that is harmful for any every living society. Societies cannot sustain for long when ideas are corrupted.
Mindset Exposure — I wonder how talking about peace and rape are co related? But then, there are some elements in the society who are so insecure about their positions of power that they go to any and every extent to silence an opinion. What does this expose? Simply, that we have fallen to the lowest levels of humanity. So low that we have started equating promotion of peace with promotion of rape. That we cannot even tolerate a tinge of opinion against our own ideology.
Who is anti- national then? Someone who promotes peace to preserve the sanctity of the nation or someone who glorifies war which can only tear apart a nation?
