Welcome to modern day India, where even sportsmen representing the country are not allowed to feel patriotic. They are not allowed to celebrate their love for their country even if they win the sport’s top honour. They are not allowed to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” or dedicate their victory to our armed forces, even if they manage to win by beating India’s arch rival and nemesis Pakistan. And if they do, they are not spared the usual labels, even if they are blind.
Yesterday, India won the Blind Cricket World Cup by defeating Pakistan in the finals which were held at Sharjah. As any Indian can imagine, it was one of the sweetest victories ever. Winning the World Cup, by beating Pakistan in the final is as good as it can ever get.
To celebrate the win, the team ran around the stadium, chanting slogans of victory and patriotism like “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. The captain of the team, Ajay Kumar Reddy, dedicated the win to India’s armed forces. While they were celebrating their second consecutive World Cup, some had a problem. Tunku Varadarajan, a British Citizen living in the USA, and brother of Siddharth Varadarajan, the editor of TheWire, expressed his disgust as the Indian team celebrated:
https://twitter.com/tunkuv/status/954753385386913792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
While the above reaction can be termed as sad and unfortunate, it is sadly not unexpected. In the past, we have seen some intellectuals even call for India’s loss in the World Cup, to prevent the fueling of “extreme nationalism” that could spoil Indian harmony.
Vardarajan though, was given many a fitting replies on social media:
https://twitter.com/AdityaRajKaul/status/954755137909669888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/Nimbupaani/status/954774756716433408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/waatho/status/954757051040673792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/red_devil22/status/954928310592647169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Others chose to mock Varadrajan’s achilles heel: The fact that his birth name is “Patanjali” and that he is known to block people who call him by that name:
https://twitter.com/red_devil22/status/954928310592647169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/mekansara/status/954783392687640577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/_toxfire/status/954947047815196673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Mr Patanjali AKA Tunku Varadarajan, you may have your warped world view where a sportsman cheering his country after a famous win qualifies as “jingoism”. But please spare our blind sportspersons, who have to work doubly hard to achieve this moment of glory.