Mathew John 
At a dark time when dictators and racists of all hues are running amok and there is little social solidarity, decency or respect on display in the public square, I chanced upon a most heartening sight – a video of a crowd of Pakistani cricket fans delirious with excitement and unabashed joy as Virat Kohli, who is a hero in Pakistan as well, pummelled his way to a century against their own team in the on-going Champions trophy.
I immediately forwarded the video clip to friends, including the Modi bhakts, with a wry observation: “If guys celebrated like this in India, they’d be arrested under UAPA.”
We won the match and yet, there was the bitter aftertaste of the politics of hate playing out with gruesome ferocity, something that has become a constant phenomenon in the last decade.
In Malvan town of Maharashtra, a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) worker allegedly overheard a 15-year-old Muslim boy praising the Pakistan cricket team’s performance.
The inane outburst of the frustrated juvenile was met with the brutal might of a State that makes no bones about executing bulldozer justice against Muslims for the slightest infraction, with little regard for the Supreme Court’s vapid “binding directives” about following due process and the basic principles of natural justice.
Branding people as ‘anti-national’ amidst the pervasive nationalistic frenzy
As punishment for his “anti-national” rant, not only was he bundled off to a remand home which is essentially a prison for minors but his parents were arrested and the scrap shops of his father and his uncle demolished.
Sure enough, the despicable MLA Nitesh Rane jumped into the fray, congratulating the Malvan Bar Association for not issuing “a lawyer’s letter to the accused Muslim who raised slogans against India.” As predictably, the Supreme Court has not reacted to this brazen violation of its orders.
Amidst the pervasive nationalistic frenzy gripping the sub-continent, fans have been reduced to mere pawns in the powerful interplay between politics and sport. Cricket has been diminished by being tethered to patriotism and mindless national pride.
The most gut-wrenching example of “anti-nationalism” among fans was that of Umar Daraz, a young tailor from Pakistan’s Okara, and a die-hard fan of Virat Kohli. In 2016, when India beat Australia after a scintillating 90 by Kohli, Umar hoisted the Indian tricolour atop his house. Daraz was arrested for an act that “is against the ideology of Pakistan” and faced a 10-year prison sentence. Heartless nationalism trumped humanity and the sheer joy of sport for its own sake!
Although the India-Pakistan match in the Champions Trophy was a a damp squib which we won easily, the trolls were as despicably obnoxious and malevolent as ever. In a country where Muslims are constantly reminded that despite being as Indian as anybody else, they are “the other”, Javed Akhtar’s effusive tribute to Kohli in a social media post was met with snide comments that he, a bloody Muslim, was only masking his unhappiness at the Indian victory.
In this country, there is the universal presumption that in all sporting contests between the two countries, Indian Muslims invariably support Pakistan.
“Why shouldn’t they?” is my crotchety response. After all, only a few generations ago, we were brothers in arms in one country. There is no reason why sporting rivalry should degenerate into warfare and fans be forced to carry nationalism on their sleeve.
Our hypocrisy on the issue of transnational loyalties in sports is distasteful. I remember how outraged and angry we were in 2003, when the English captain, Nasser Hussain, unable to stomach his team’s defeat to India at Lord’s on the back of the heroics of Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj Singh, accused the British Indian fans of national disloyalty for unabashedly supporting the Indian team.
At that time, we lectured him on sub-nationalism, on sports transcending national boundaries and the reality of conflicting identities in multicultural societies. Why are we adopting a different yardstick when it comes to India-Pakistan games?
Let’s face it: for over a decade, this country has been overwhelmed by a predatory nationalism that is majoritarian in its sensibilities and flagrantly anti-Muslim. The current regime under Modi, aware of the socio-cultural power of cricket, has manipulated the administration of the game for political mileage and taken hostility toward Pakistan into the stratosphere.
Cricket has fallen prey to the cancer of communal identity politics
Maintaining a belligerent adversarial relationship with Pakistan is not only politically expedient but fundamental to the Hindutva ideology. Cricket has fallen prey to the cancer of communal identity politics.
It was never this bad! One recalls with longing nostalgia the cricketing bonhomie and solidarity that existed between the two nations two decades ago. It seems long ago but in 1996, India co-hosted the 50-over World Cup with Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the final being played at the Gaddafi stadium, Lahore.
It was the ultimate in sub-continental camaraderie! Let’s also not forget that under the prime ministership of Vajpayee, who was keen on building bridges with Pakistan despite the Kargil war, our cricket team visited Pakistan in 2004 to thunderous applause. Cricket cemented friendship between our two joyless nations!
For the apostles of India-Pakistan friendship, the most uplifting event was what happened at the Chepauk stadium in Chennai in 1999. In a heart-stopping contest, embellished by a truly heroic century by Sachin Tendulkar, Pakistan scraped home by a mere 12 runs! What happened after that is – I dare say – the most poignant moment in our sporting history.
At a time when all of India was gutted by this loss to our arch rivals, our wonderful and discerning Chennai cricket fans embraced our common shared humanity by giving the Pakistan team a standing ovation as they took a victory lap, telling the world that applauding your victorious opponents is what constitutes true sportsmanship!
The present BCCI – a doormat dutifully executing the agenda of the political bosses – has a lot to answer for. It has been the ‘Elon Musk-like’ bullyboy on the international cricket stage because of its monstrous financial clout. It has coerced a pusillanimous ICC to do its bidding, disregarding past precedent.
One recalls that in earlier ICC tournaments, teams that refused to play in any country forfeited points. In the 2003 World Cup jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, England refused to play in Harare and New Zealand cried off playing in Nairobi, for which acts of dereliction both teams forfeited full points.
Also Read: BCCI Needs a Clear Pakistan Policy Without Holding Cricket to Ransom
But the BCCI has arm-twisted the ICC to agree to holding the Champions Trophy in the “hybrid model”, with India playing all its fixtures in Dubai. It’s mind-numbing that in in this premier cricket tournament, the venue for the final – Lahore or Dubai – will be known only on completion of the first semi-final, an unprecedented aberration that, apart from being disruptive for all concerned, is a financial disaster for the Pakistan Board.
Bilateral cricket between India and Pakistan – a sporting rivalry greater and more exciting than the Ashes – has remained suspended for more than a decade now. Amidst the fracas over the terms imposed by India for participation in the Champions Trophy. Pakistan has officially decided to shun all trips to India, a signed official stand endorsed by the ICC.
It’s a dead end. Shame on the BCCI denizens and their political masters for bringing the beautiful game to such a sorry pass!
Mathew John is a former civil servant. The views are personal.