Editorial: A nation on its knees

But the vicious manner in which Mohammed Shami was trolled on social media after the match against Pakistan needs to be spoken about for two reasons: the way he was singled out for his religion, and how there was no vocal support for him from within the team, until, of course, Team India Captain Virat Kohli broke his silence, almost a week later. Kohli termed the trolls as spineless and pathetic for having stooped to the lowest level by singling out Shami for his religion. 

To be clear, Shami was not the only player who under-performed on the day, which makes it evident that the criticism had little to do with his performance and more to do with his religious affiliation. The incident brought to memory similar instances of abuse faced by star footballers Mesut Ozil of Germany for being of Arab lineage, Romelu Lukaku of Belgium for his African heritage. They might belong to a legion of stars and be revered in victories. But they are singled out on account of race, whenever the team loses. Shami has found himself in a similar situation. 

Some have claimed that the whole controversy was orchestrated by Pakistan to foment communal strife in India, and have cited some social media accounts to substantiate the allegation. While it is difficult to put it past the shadow operators who attempt to sow the seeds of discord in India, incidents that have played out in our own backyards around the same time make the claim appear tenuous. Here is a sample of just three such cases reported in the past week: In Gujarat, a Muslim businessman who launched a new hotel was asked to chant Jai Shri Ram if he was to be allowed to run it; a Christian school in Madhya Pradesh was asked to install an idol of Goddess Saraswati; and Muslim neighbourhoods in Tripura have been burning for days. None of these were engineered by faceless actors from enemy nations, but by cadre belonging to right-wing outfits. 

As disturbing as it is, the vitriol piled up against Shami comes as no surprise to Indians. The country has been plumbing the lower depths of communal strife for ages now. But the absolute silence from Team India’s management and fellow players who did not deem it important enough to call out the abuse or even express their support for Shami, in the immediate aftermath of the incident is appalling, to say the least. 

What made the lack of camaraderie even more ludicrous was the drama that played out just hours earlier when the Men in Blue took a knee before their match against Pakistan. That they thought it was important enough to mark their protest against racism in America but did not accord any significance to the communal jibes levelled against a senior teammate, no less, was perhaps the most regretful instance of armchair activism we have seen in recent times. 

As a sign of allyship, taking the knee is among the most powerful forms of solidarity that had sprung out of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. But with their actions – rather, with the abject lack of it – the Indian players have made it abundantly clear that they do not deserve being an ally, a relationship built on trust and mutual respect. They should instead stick to performances during the game instead of gaming for social capital.