A couple of years ago Yorkshire County Cricket Club got entangled in a controversy. Azeem Rafiq – the cricketer of South Asian descent and Islamic lineage had complained against “racism” within Yorkshire dressing room and administrative set-up.
Following investigation, it got revealed that Rafiq was sometimes subjected to “Paki” banters in the dressing room. Just on the basis of it, the Board Chairman and two Directors of YCCC had to resign; the club’s sponsors had withdrawn their support, English Cricket Board had relocated two international matches originally allotted to iconic Leeds – leaving YCCC to financial ruin. Since accusation of racism got directed towards Michael Vaughan, BBC had suspended the Ashes-winning English captain from radio duties. And mother of all surprises remains that all these actions against the County Club had happened when the ex-Chairman of the YCCC Collin Graves was functioning as Chairman of English Cricket Board.
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Yes, when it comes to launching tirade against racism, without caring about the colour religion ethnicity of the perpetrators and victims, the English promptly indulge in awarding justice.
In contrast when ex-Indian Test cricketer Wasim Jaffer was communally humiliated when he was functioning as the head coach of Uttarakhand, far from awarding any punishment to anybody, not a single Indian cricketer or BCCI uttered a word in his favour or against communalism! Or when Mohammed Shami got trolled for being a Muslim following an Indian loss against Pakistan, nobody associated with Indian cricket had protested it except the then captain Virat Kohli.
And due to this “sin” of Kohli, he was abused on social media. In contrast, English Twitter world had rallied behind Azeem Rafiq. In this context, it must be mentioned that far from receiving justice, it was Jaffer only who had to resign from his coaching position in Uttarakhand.
Though this contrast is highly painful, but hardly surprising too. After all, cricketing fraternity, social media enthusiasts representing the general populace and political honchos are not mutually exclusive to each other. Rather they are all part of the very same society of the concerned country.
So in a country where coloured South Asian ethnic/religious minorities can go way up to the top as Secretary of Health (Saqib Javid), London Mayor (Sadiq Khan) with Rishi Sunak attaining the ultimate seat of UK Prime Minister, it is obviously natural that numerically dominant Whites would jump with urgency to award justice to coloured Azeem Rafiq with English Twitter world right behind him.
In the same vein, won’t it be natural that communal jibes would get directed at Jaffers and Shamis with cricketing fraternity maintaining stunned silence with the exceptional Kohlis “gifted” with choicest of abuses if we look at the state of affairs of dominant political scene in India.
Far from being asked to immediately resign or punished, these instigators invoking hatred and violence gain increased popularity.
Instead of beating own trumpet of ‘liberalism’, Indian society is in urgent need to learn civilisational ethos from the British society.
