Badminton player Jwala Gutta turned to social media on Monday, December 23 to appeal to her followers and her contemporaries, to condemn the violence surrounding the Citizenship Act protests.
Gutta mentioned “a lot of people dying,” adding that she did not expect this to take place. She then gave a clarion call to all other sportspeople in India: “We should come out and condemn violence. Violence against people, and people who are creating violence. Because we [sportspersons] are the peace ambassadors of our country, to the world.”
“I think this is the least we could do - come out. Come out and condemn violence,” emphasised Gutta.
Earlier, former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh also came out in support of student protesters who were injured due to police crackdowns at Jamia Millia Islamia University.
“This needs to stop” said Singh, posting a video of a young man, Minajuddin, who lost his eye when Delhi police entered the Jamia University library. “His crime is that he is human...” said the cricketer.
In a later tweet, Singh elaborated, addressing “students, police and authorities”, “All I am saying is maintain the peace... this should stop [because] it’s not doing good for anyone.”
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