New Delhi: Student activist and author Gurmehar Kaur Sunday tweeted that she is graduating from Oxford University in the UK and is looking for jobs.
“Hello! I’m graduating from Oxford with a MSc in South Asian studies and looking for full time positions in journalism, social impact, intergovernmental organisations or policy think tanks. Location: UK, EU. I have 4 years of experience in politics, journalism and campaigning,” Kaur wrote on the microblogging site.
Hello! I’m graduating from Oxford with a MSc in South Asian studies and looking for full time positions in journalism, social impact, intergovernmental organisations or policy think tanks. Location: UK, EU. I have 4 years of experience in politics, journalism and campaigning.
— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) August 23, 2020
A graduate in English Literature from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University, Kaur had moved to the UK for higher studies. But it was at LSR that she came into limelight — for her participation in the ‘Save DU campaign’ in 2017, when Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) clashed with Ramjas College students over an invitation to JNU student activists Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid for a seminar.
The violence forced the college authorities to withdraw the invitation, but clashes still broke out between members of the RSS-backed ABVP and the left-affiliated All India Students’ Association (AISA). At the time, Kaur had posted on her social media a photo of herself holding up a placard that read, “I am a student of Delhi University, I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP”
Gurmehar Kaur eventually withdrew from being a part of the campaign after she was relentlessly trolled. In a series of tweets, the student activist had announced that she wouldn’t be part of the campaign or the planned protest march against campus violence, but encouraged others to take part.
I'm withdrawing from the campaign. Congratulations everyone. I request to be left alone. I said what I had to say.. (1/2)
— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) February 28, 2017
The campaign is about students and not about me. Please go to the March in huge numbers. Best of luck.
— Gurmehar Kaur (@mehartweets) February 28, 2017
Gurmehar Kaur lost her father Captain Mandeep Singh at the age of two, when he was killed in a militant attack on a Rashtriya Rifles camp in Jammu & Kashmir in 1999, in the aftermath of the Kargil war.
In 2016, she had launched a #ProfileForPeace campaign advocating amity between India and Pakistan. In her viral video, Kaur had, through the use of placards, said Pakistan did not kill her father, war did. She spoke of how it took her a long time to understand the difference and to let go of her hate for any one community.
She urged the governments of both India and Pakistan to “stop pretending” and “solve the problem”. “I am questioning the caliber of leadership of both nations; we cannot dream of becoming a first world country with third world leadership,” her placards read.
Kaur’s video took a political turn with many leaders aggressively commenting on her campaign. Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports Kiren Rijiju had asked, “Who’s polluting this young girl’s mind?”, while BJP MP Pratap Simha had compared Kaur with underworld don and India’s most-wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.
Since then, Kaur has authored two books, Small Acts of Freedom and The Young and The Restless: Youth and Politics in India.
Also read: Stop screaming about Kashmir, talk instead: Gurmehar Kaur