Chikkamagaluru: With the dust settling a bit after activist student Amulya Leonia’s startling impromptu performance at an anti-CAA rally in Bengaluru two days ago, her family, after initially being bullied by Bajrang Dal busybodies, are rallying behind her.
After having depicted her, under duress, as a compulsive rebel , the family is now throwing its weight behind Amulya. They now say that her Pakistan Zindabad slogan was part of a point she intended to make, that of internationalism and good neighbourliness, but she was cut short in mid-speech by others on the dais at the anti-CAA protest, causing her to be misunderstood.
“Stopping her in mid speech did create a problem,” said a family member who said he has viewed the footage of Amulya’s speech several times.
Amulya is a Roman Catholic who was brought up on the principle of love for all and “had she been allowed to finish her speech, she would have made sense.”
However, at the same time, they urged the Karnataka government to conduct a free and fair investigation into Amulya’s case and come out with the names of persons or organizations who encouraged Amulya to make incendiary speeches.
“Somebody has used Amulya because she has been a good orator since third standard,” said one members of her family.
The family firmly ruled out Amulya Leona having any links with naxalites, as alleged by chief minister B S Yediyurappa in Mysuru yesterday. Nxalites used to be active in parts of Chikkmagaluru districts once upon a time but have now departed from the place.
Members of the family said it was the National Register of Citizens (NRC) that inflamed Amulya Leona's activist fervour about a month and a half back.“Amulya is still young (18). She can mend her ways if she has done wrong,” he said.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Amulya's father Oswald Leona said he is unfazed by the attack on his house by miscreants. Friends and relatives met him at his house on Saturday to express support. “Some of my friends called me on the phone to support me. I have received about 72 messages till noon today but I'm too busy attending to friends and relatives to go through the messages,” said Mr Noronha.
