Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi thought she had an intelligent retort when she decided to respond to Union Minister Anurag Thakur’s comments that no bilateral cricketing series will take place between India and Pakistan until Islamabad pulls the plug on terrorism.
With the advent of the internet, particularly with the arrival of social media, users are driven into making quick responses with what they perceive as a sharp riposte, one that is aimed at outfoxing their opponents, often when they don’t fully grasp concepts and topics under discussion and only ends up exposing their lack of understanding.
A similar behavioural incident took place today when Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi tried to weigh in on the subject of Indo-Pakistan cricketing ties, an issue she seemed little understanding and knowledge about, if her tweets are to be believed.
In the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, Union Minister Anurag Thakur issued a clarification that BCCI had decided much earlier that they wouldn’t engage with Pakistan’s cricket team in bilateral series until there is an end to terrorism, cross-border attacks and infiltration.
Ms Chaturvedi quoted the ANI tweet of Thakur’s statement and asked if the World Cup match between India and Pakistan that is scheduled to be played in Ahmedabad in mid October be considered bilateral and cancelled in respect of the sentiment of the nation. She further added that BCCI should clarify and so should Thakur being a minister.
Priyanka Chaturvedi’s tweet provides a profound insight into her understanding or lack thereof on matters related to cricket and English. Or she is just jaundiced against the present regime so much so that she doesn’t mind becoming a butt of all jokes in her efforts to outwit her political opponent.
The cricket World Cup scheduled in India later this year is an ICC tournament, a multi-nation contest where cricketing teams from across the world vie for the coveted cup that takes place once in every four years. India and Pakistan are clubbed under the same group by the ICC, and the two team would lock horns in Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad on October 14.
Ms Chaturvedi suggested if the World Cup match be regarded as a bilateral match between India and Pakistan and if the BCCI would cancel it with respect to the sentiments of the nation.
For starters, the match between India and Pakistan cannot be considered as bilateral since the two nations are playing in a multi-lateral tournament that is governed by the apex cricketing body, ICC. Ms Chaturvedi seems to have little understanding of what bilateral means or the difference between a bilateral series and multinational tournament.
A user on X, formerly known as Twitter, mocked Ms Priyanka asking her to refer to an Oxford Dictionary to know what ‘bilateral’ means.
Ms Chaturvedi responded to the user’s tweet, only to confirm the suspicion that she indeed is confused about what constitutes a bilateral cricketing series and how different it is from a multi-nation tournament.
The Shiv Sena MP claimed that the Union Minister had lied about Asia Cup when he said the last time India and Pakistan played a bilateral series was in 2012-2013 and since then the two teams have faced-off only in ICC and Asia Cup events. She further said that India had last toured Pakistan in 2006.
Ms Chaturvedi then goes on to cite BCCI secretary Jay Shah who had said in August that India wouldn’t be touring Pakistan for the Asia Cup if their matches are held in Pakistan. India agreed to be a part of Asia Cup only when it was agreed upon by the participating nations to conduct a hybrid model with India’s matches being played in Sri Lanka.
It is difficult to understand what Ms Chaturvedi wants to say or perhaps she is simply digging her heels in after being mocked at for conflating a bilateral series with a multilateral tournament. India and Pakistan played their last bilateral series in 2012-2013 when the Pakistan cricket team had toured India. A bilateral series in cricketing parlance means cricket teams of two boards clashing with each other at a mutually agreed venue, with no involvement of any other third party.
The Asia Cup is governed by the Asian Cricket Council, with Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and other associate nations being part of it besides India and Pakistan. Similarly, the World Cup is governed by the International Cricket Council, which encompasses all cricket-playing nations from across the world, including Australia, South Africa, West Indies, England, etc.
Nevertheless, India still has an option of opting out of playing Pakistan in their World Cup clash, but in that case, the match does not get cancelled. India will have to forfeit their contest, which means Pakistan will be declared the winner even without playing the match, besides the penalty the ICC could impose on BCCI for abandoning the competition.
This is the primary reason why the BCCI’s team has been playing against Pakistan cricket team in multination tournament since the strained relationship between the two countries since the Mumbai 2008 attacks.
However, just like her poor grip on maths, Priyanka Chaturvedi has little understanding of cricket and English too. It is time that she visit the school again and pay attention in her classes.
Priyanka Chaturvedi and her complicated relationship with maths
Priyanka Chaturvedi has quite often displayed her poor understanding of Mathematics. During the migrant crisis following the Coronavirus lockdown, she falsely claimed that the Modi government amassed huge profits by running special trains for migrant workers.
The Sena leader failed to comprehend the difference between the ‘revenue earned’ and ‘profit’. Contrary to the claims of Priyanka Chaturvedi that the Indian Railways earned huge profits, the Railways has spent Rs 2,142 crore on running Shramik Special trains but earned a ‘revenue’ of just Rs 429 crore and did not incur any ‘profit’. In fact, the Modi government had incurred a loss of nearly Rs 1,700 crores after it ran Shramik trains to ferry back the stranded migrant labours from various parts of the country.
As early as 2014, she was seen misreading numbers and portraying growth as an impediment of Modi government’s Achhe Din.
She had said how Index of Industrial Production for consumer goods had gone from -23.4 in June 2014 to -20.9 in July 2014 – which is actually an increase in the index, and tried to take a jibe at Modi govt. She has since deleted the tweet.
