My tweet wasn’t intended for Gurmehar Kaur, clarifies Virender Sehwag
What’s the story?
Over the last few days, former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag was accused of allegedly bullying a 20-year-old girl Gurmehar Kaur, who is the daughter of Kargil Martyr, Mandeep Singh. The incident took place on Twitter when Sehwag tweeted a picture of him holding a placard that appeared to have been taking a dig at Gurmehar’s tweet from 2015 in which she posted few photos about India and Pakistan.
Sehwag’s tweet created a lot of fuss in social media and the right-handed batsman immediately came out and clarified that his tweet was not intended for Gurmehar and he tweeted it for fun but it was construed the other way.
“My tweet wasn’t intended for Gurmehar. It was plain fun but people construed the other way,” Sehwag told India Today.
Extra cover: Virender Sehwag's tweet draws massive social media reaction
In case you didn’t know...
Days after the violence at the Ramjas College when students and teachers of the college clashed with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members after the latter interrupted a seminar on Bastar over the participation of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid, Gurmehar changed her Facebook profile picture to one with her holding a placard.
The placard itself read, “I am not a student of Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #FIGHTBACKDU #STUDENTSAGAINSTABVP”.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Sehwag tweeted a picture holding a placard which was similar to Gurmehar’s video that said, “Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him”) from 2015 in which she had asked for peace. The tweet by Sehwag read, “I didn’t score two triple centuries, my bat did,” alongside text of “Bat me hai Dum !#BharatJaisiJagahNahi”.
Tweet Speak
This received a lot of attention from the actors, sportspersons and also the politicians on Twitter.
Sportskeeda’s Take
Sehwag has been a revelation on Twitter of late but is facing a lot of criticism for some of his tweets. However, it is unfair to blame him entirely for this episode.
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Even if his tweet was aimed at Gurmehar, which wasn’t the case according to the cricketer, there is nothing wrong in it. Sehwag just used his wit to make his point and just because he is not going along with Kaur, he should not be dubbed a troll.
If Gurmehar has the right to voice her opinion, Sehwag can too, and he should not be cornered or criticised for it.