Last year's video triggered latest row

It was an year-old video featuring ‘peace activist’ Gurmehar Kaur appealing to India and Pakistan to “stop pretending” and “solve the problem” that proved to be the flashpoint for the latest political slugfest.

And it was a single slide in that silent five-minute video of the Delhi University student that really triggered the big controversy. It said: “'Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him.”

The video, featuring Gurmehar telling her story through a series of slides, was posted by Ram Subramanian, an ad filmmaker whose Facebook page ‘Voice of Ram’ ran a campaign ‘Profile for Peace’ last April.

The picture of the Army martyr’s daughter holding the Pakistan-did-not-kill-my-dad placard resurfaced on social media after she took a stand against the student group ABVP over clashes at Ramjas College last week.

After the clashes, 20-year-old Gurmehar, a student at Lady Shri Ram College, put up a Facebook profile picture showing her holding a placard that read: “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP.”

Even as Gurmehar was trolled on social media, a Twitter post by former cricketer Virender Sehwag added fuel to fire. He is seen holding a placard saying, “I didn’t score two triple tons, my bat did.” Bollywood actor Randeep Hooda joined the bandwagon by endorsing Sehwag.

In last year’s campaign, Gurmehar is seen advocating peace between India and Pakistan. “If there was no war between us, my father would still be here,” she had said through a slide.

In that viral video, Gurmehar asked both governments to “stop pretending” and “solve the problem”. She said, “I am questioning the calibre of leadership of both nations; we cannot dream of becoming a first world country with third world leadership.”