Kiren Rijiju said Gurmehar Kaur was being used as a "pawn" by "Leftists who support Afzal Guru".
Amid a raging debate on nationalism following the Ramjas College protests, union minister Kiren Rijiju today posted a video of a soldier expressing his anguish over what he called the "support" condemned men like Yakub Memon and Afzal Guru receive from some quarters in the nation. The minister's post, which included the video clip of the man talking at what appears to be well-attended meeting, read, "Pain runs deeper than the Ocean. Very sad that our jawans are forced to speak with heavy heart."
The soldier, who was not identified in the video, is Shriram Gorde, a member of the 9th Maratha Infantry posted in Jamnagar. The video, he told NDTV, was from his address at "Rashtriya Katha Shivir" - an event organised by a religious group held on December 28 at Pransla, 100 km from Rajkot.
In the video, he is heard saying, "Friends, it doesn't feel bad when Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru gets a death sentence. But it hurts when our countrymen mourn him, bandh is called in Jammu and Kashmir, at JNU, tributes are paid to him".
Mr Gorde said while soldiers like him fight terrorists and Maoists, they didn't realise that biggest danger comes from "those traitors who raise slogans of 'Down with India' and burn the national flag". "
It hurts when such people are supported by millions in the country," he further said.
Service rules prevent any government servant from going public with political views or grievances or speaking at such events and last month, Army chief Bipin Rawat read the riot act to armed forces personnel who had taken to the social media to express their grievances about food and living conditions. Mr Gorde told NDTV he was aware of the rules, could not help speaking up because he was "too agitated". "When I got the chance to speak at this event, I went and expressed myself."
Mr Rijiju, who has drawn sharp reactions with his tweet on Gurmehar Kaur's Facebook post regarding the death of her soldier father, today said the 20-year-old was being used as a "pawn" by the "Leftists who support Afzal Guru". "In the interest of this nation, for the security of this nation, we have to be absolutely clear that these people should not pollute young minds of India," he told NDTV.