Chennai youth celebrate anti-terror stance, seniors caution against violence

“I bow down to the Indian army for having taken 300 lives to avenge the 50 lost ones,” “We love PM Narendra Modi because he truly loves India,” and “Big salute to the Indian army,” read tweets by Shiva Balamurali, Sai Ramakrishna and Abdul Raguman respectively, who are three amid the tens of thousands who took to Twitter to praise the attack on Pakistan’s Balakot, Chakothi and Muzaffarabad regions by 12 Indian fighter jets at 3.30 am on Tuesday.

Several BJP supporters celebrated the air strike by bursting crackers and people in the city added to the viral hashtags — ‘JoshisHigh’, ‘SurgicalStrike2’, ‘56inchesrock’ — on various social media channels, but several others who chose to remain silent expressed their apprehension about the incident to DT Next.

Some older, experienced members of the society divulged that the strike was an impulsive one. “We must remember this is a 55-year problem, it is not a new development. So, violence is definitely not the answer — peace talks are the forward if we truly want to put an end to this” said Selvan (58), a retired state government official.

Eugene DG, a professor at Loyola College, said, “The strike right now felt like a reaction rather than a rational measure. In such a heated climate, it is wise to make a deliberate move. An eye for an eye is not the way forward.”

Commenting on thesame, Colonel K Maliappan (retired) said that giventhe circumstances, it is the right action but that does not guarantee long-term peace. “This is purely a political decision, there’s no denying that.”

A section of youngsters, too, condemned the act a violent one and stated that it might inspire even greater violence that might harm the general public. Revathi N, studying for her MCA finals said, “The fact that people are celebrating the deaths of so many people, even if they are terrorists, just feels wrong.”