We are becoming an intolerant nation, says women activist

Bengaluru: As Ramjas College last week faced violence instigated by the ABVP, many protesters, including Kargil martyr’s daughter and Lady Sri Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur, are on a campaign against ABVP.

BJP MP from Mysuru, Pratap Simha, hit back at the 20-year-old student in a forwarded message on Twitter that said, “At least Dawood did not use the crutches of his father's name to justify his anti-national stand.”

Women activists in the city reacted angrily to Mr Simha’s tweet. Ms Leila Passah, a pro-women’s rights campaigner, said intolerance has grown manifold in the country. “The fact that the RSS-backed BJP cannot tolerate voices of dissent shows that we have become a regressive society. Voices of opposition are necessary to ensure that we are a fully functional democracy,” she said.

But, she said, there is a silver lining in all of this. “The BJP trying to blank out voices of the opposition only shows how desperate they are. The fact that voices are coming out in opposition to the ruling party bodes well for democracy,” she said.

Ms Sunila Singh, a Delhi-based women’s activist, said, “Look at the issue of Umar Khalid and how he was treated for his views. We are living in an intolerant society and the ruling party does not even lend its ears to the voices of the centre, let alone the Left.”

She said that Gurmehar did nothing wrong. “All she did was to oppose the ABVP who are now making all sorts of threats against her,” she said.