Deplorable: Gambhir on attack on Muslim youth

Cricketer-turned-BJP MP Gautam Gambhir on Monday bore the brunt of right-wing trolls after he described as "deplorable" an incident where a group asked a Muslim to remove his skullcap and chant 'Jai Shri Ram'.

What angered the trolls, who gave him advice on why he should keep quiet and follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice of keeping away from media, was the choice of the incident as well as his mention of lyricist Javed Akthar, who is opposed to BJP, in a positive tone in his tweet.

It was not just trolls but Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari also had advice to Gambhir as he issued a statement to say that some people can engineer such incidents and manipulate facts to project it in a different way.

"People are required to avoid these things. Gambhir has reacted with innocence on this matter. Delhi BJP condemns such incidents in the society," Tiwari said.

Even as the former cricketer's tweet attracted attention, an incident of shooting of a man after the victim revealed that he is a Muslim came from Bihar's Begusarai.

The East Delhi MP referred to the incident in Haryana's Gurugram, where one Mohammad Barkat (25) was accosted by a group of men while returning from a mosque on Saturday evening and assaulted before asking to remove his skull cap and chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and said, "it is deplorable. Exemplary action needed by Gurugram authorities."

He said, "we are a secular nation where (lyricist) Javed Akthar wrote 'o paalan haare, nirgun aur nyaare' and filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra gave us a song 'arjiyan' in Delhi-6."

Gambhir went on to add that his thoughts on secularism emanate from Modi's mantra 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas'. "I am not limiting myself to Gurugram incident alone, any oppression based on caste/religion is deplorable. Tolerance and inclusive growth is what idea of India is based on," he said.

However, the right-wing supporters did not take it kindly to his two tweets on the incident asking him why he was not talking about the murder of Amethi MP Smriti Irani's election aide and even chastising him not to shoot his mouth on incidents.

There were around 10,000 responses to his two tweets and most of them were against him prompting a minority to warn Gambhir that he may not last long. "Buddy, two cents. While your gesture is appreciated, you're not going to last too long in the BJP with this kind of independent thinking. Just see the replies. Sooner or later you'll be asked to fall in line like the others had to last 5 years. Good luck," a tweet said.

Another tweet said, "yes..he quoted Javed Akhtar just imagine how could he..we fought day and night with this bigot exposing his hypocrisy and here comes our own MP glorifying him..Mr Gambhir you won due to Modi and his supporters else even Vijendra (Singh) got an Olympic medal came third."

There were advice to him too in another tweet, "when PM added "Sabka Vishwas" to "Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas", he didn't mean appeasement. Study well the situation before uttering nonsense."

MORE TWEETS

** Mr Gambhir, we don't want you to limit yourself since you are now MP of all. But when you raise your voice raise it for all and avoid glorifying fake seculars like Javed Akhtar . Javed Akhtar is fake secular. Look at his recent tweets.

** Please remember the lessons from your first class taken by your leader PM @narendramodi-ji. Don't be in a hurry to react to any news. As a representative of people, be responsible about what you say. Do not overreact.

** You never tweeted on the violent and tragic murder of your worker in Amethi but we're quick to tweet about this case which is most probably a set up. Over and above you invoke closet jihadi @Javedakhtarjadu ? Why are you damaging the support base of
@narendramodi-ji on social media?

** All vioIence should be condemned but don't get carried away so fast. Let it be investigated. What if it was a personal quarrel, not communal? Such incidents happen other way round also but media don't cover them. Don't use isolated incidents to form a generalized opinion.

** Remember what PM Modiji had said in Central Hall,Parliament ....PM said avoid giving every day every morning messages to nation thru sound bytes and also SM tweets ...

** Either better react to this too or stay quiet. You are an MP of your constituency. Speak, take care of it only. Let spokespersons do their job of speaking on behalf of party.

** Please don't get overly influenced by blue tick handles. They may be wrong many a times. Focus on your constituency. Appeasement does not mean siding with Muslims alone. Side with what is just.

** Already bhakts are abusing @GautamGambhir, Jaise @SushmaSwaraj Ji ko galiya de rahe the. @GautamGambhir Ji wait and watch abhi to bhakt bahut kuch karege

** Well said Gauti! Don't let anyone change your core beliefs. We are a secular nation and we need to preserve that spirit.