From multiple nations bargaining for a coveted chance to host the Olympics, to scandals involving selections in National and State sports teams, politics and sports have always been intertwined in ways more than one. For a large part of Indians, the tone of India-Pak relations is set by the outcome of a cricket match and a person cheering a Pakistani victory is declared an anti-national. People believe that sporting at the highest levels of India, is not clean – and that’s probably not an unjustified opinion considering multiple allegations of match-fixing, gambling in cricket influencing the matches, and the ever-opaque BCCI.
Tournaments, which are supposed to be a celebration of sportsman spirit and sports themselves, quickly turn ugly due to nationalism and politics having a say. Such pettiness is quite prominent among Indians, but quite less so among their other Asian counterparts.
Indians have been infamous for their overt displays of violent nationalism during cricket matches. Somehow, the amount of solidarity and love for the country seems to hit the roof during such matches… but the public is not to blame. It’s the politicians who have deeply instilled the policy of divide and rule, due to which Indians have started alienating other nations. Something clearly needs to change.
Article by Vedika Kulkarni.
The Journal Club 