The spirit of the game is tarred when even strangers threaten each other with violence, when videos of Muslim children celebrating India’s victory have to be used as testimony of love for the country. (Express photo by Partha Paul/File)
With every game between the two neighbours, hate is spewed and people are made to feel insecure. Sports should unite, not divide
Written by Toufiq Rashid
Updated: November 11, 2022 7:32:24 am
Deep in a meeting discussing the content for a campaign we were planning, someone suddenly declared India’s loss in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
I screamed a happy “yay”, and everyone looked at me. Muslim name, Kashmiri origin and a happy scream makes me a sure-shot Pakistani supporter. I’m very sad to announce that I am part of the minuscule minority that just doesn’t care about cricket or its results.
Yes, I screamed in happiness, but not because India lost. It was because there will be no India-Pakistan final. If India had won and Pakistan had lost, my reaction would have been the same. I would have still screamed in happiness.
Since morning, I had been fearing the possibility of an India-Pakistan match. In the current times, it can have consequences.
There is a cycle, which was waiting to start, like last time. Some kids would have made morphed videos of people screaming praises to Pakistan. The bursting of firecrackers would have been attributed to certain mohallas. There would be arguments and counterarguments in offices, where every reaction of Muslim employees would have been scrutinised. Muslims would have to clap loudest and cry hardest to prove their love for the country. And Kashmiris, “branded anti-nationals”, would be given no room to prove anything.
I remember the last major match when young Kashmiris were dismissed from colleges, rounded up and arrested.
It’s not as though I was never interested in cricket. I even remember those Sharjah matches between the arch-rivals and neighbours, which were still sane. Commentators from both countries used to sit in same box, commenting on pretty women and their accessories. There were some World Cup matches that I watched with interest.
However, when I saw the madness and frenzy the game is capable of generating, I distanced myself. When I saw how love for the game was overtaken by hate for the other, I weaned myself off it. Cricket is not a game anymore, cricket is politics. And now more than ever, it’s a major tool in divisive politics. No matter what battles people of both countries are fighting — social unrest, inflation, plunging economies — an India- Pakistan match is a major distraction. It is pitched as the biggest battle and everything else takes a backseat.
For days, hate has been spreading on social media. People from both countries engaged in name-calling matches, in which players and even their families were not spared. Where an Anushka Sharma is blamed for every ball that Virat Kohli misses, a Sania Mirza was blamed for the worst performances of the Pakistani team. Television sets are smashed, stadiums are burnt, homes are stoned, public property damaged. People are beaten, mocked, trolled. Heroes turn into villains in a day, calls are made for captains to be changed with every win or loss.
For the last few days, the banter on Twitter was taking a dangerous turn. The spirit of the game is tarred when even strangers threaten each other with violence, when videos of Muslim children celebrating India’s victory have to be used as testimony of love for the country. Some news channels are calling the Pakistani team “Babar ki Sena”. On the other hand Pakistan, recovering from major political drama post the attack on former PM Imran Khan, has people debating “India’s muscle power” at the ICC and how India cheated to win the earlier game, etc.
Yes, I don’t watch cricket. I don’t care who wins or loses. I would rather go to a nice eatery to have a peaceful meal with loved ones while the “fans” are busy cursing each other. I have a small group of friends who have similar views and my children, thankfully, are not party to the cricket frenzy.
Yes, I was happy that the earth would be saved from another day of negativity, when the ball would have turned into a bullet, the bat a gun and the pitch the battlefield. My resolve is not to watch cricket till it’s treated as just another game. My love for the other is more important than my love for any sport. Sports has to be a unifier not a divider. However insignificant it may be, I’ll just pray: “May our tribe grow.”
The writer works at Pixstory