Cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle earned brickbats on social media after he called SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, the ‘Chinese Coronavirus’. The Covid-19 virus originated in China, however, the Chinese Communist Party has taken strong objection to the association of virus with it.
Unfortunately, some have decided to call Harsha Bhogle a ‘Sanghi’ for calling it the Chinese virus, a name first popularized by former US President Donald Trump.
One user called him a ‘Sanghi Bhakt’ and expressed his disappointment with Bhogle.
Others were more polite in asking him not to use the term ‘Chinese virus’.
However, quite a few people were upset at Bhogle’s usage of the term.
https://twitter.com/isekh23/status/1412336376238940161?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwSome said that Harsha Bhogle sounded like Donald Trump.
https://twitter.com/Harshal_de/status/1412343446816411648?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHe was also accused of being ‘xenophobic’ among other things.
https://twitter.com/indusperson/status/1412343223192887296?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwNonetheless, by and large, people appreciated him for using the ‘correct’ name of the virus. However, they feared that he will soon delete the tweet.
https://twitter.com/YashR066/status/1412343016577245188?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/cricdrugs/status/1412342201149915137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/MarwariJat/status/1412341916973240324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw https://twitter.com/DataGuyRedux/status/1412339787118174209?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHarsha Bhogle, however, defended himself saying, “I noticed the use of the South African variant, the Brazil variant and the Indian variant. I guess it is the norm to refer to something by the country of origin.”
There has been great debate about the origins of the novel Coronavirus that causes Covid-19. It is suspected, and believed by many, that the virus leaked out of a lab in Wuhan and was created by scientists there. China, obviously, denies such claims and accuses of racism those who point towards its links to the virus.