Bollywood celebrities Vishal Dadlani and Anubhav Sinha on Tuesday backed Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur for her online campaign against the ABVP, with veteran writer Javed Akhtar taking on Union minister Kiren Rijiju for his "grossly biased" views.
Actress-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt and actor Rohit Roy even slammed cricketer Virendra Sehwag and actor Randeep Hooda, who apparently mocked Kaur, whose father was killed in the Kargil war, for saying "Pakistan did not kill my dad, war killed him'.
Akhtar, who has earlier too spoken out against "rising intolerance", wondered how an "educated" person like Rijiju had remarked as to who was "polluting" the mind of Kaur, who made a Facebook post with the hashtag #studentsagainstABVP.
"If a hardly literate player or a wrestler troll a pacifist daughter of a martyr, it's understandable, but what's wrong with some educated folks. I don't (know) about her, but Mr Minister I know who is polluting your mind," tweeted Akhtar.
Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha commented: "Of course, anti-nationals should not be tolerated. But everything unsuitable/inconvenient can't be called anti-national."
Music director and singer Dadlani, who was part of the Aam Aadmi Party, said: "Whether Modi takes initiative for peace, or Gurmehar does, ordinary citizens in India and Pakistan support peace. Only political stooges don't."