The online attack on bowler Mohammed Shami in the wake of India’s T20 Cricket World Cup loss to Pakistan last Sunday is of a piece with the trend of targeting Muslims for everything that goes wrong in the country. In fact, they are sometimes targeted even when right and good things happen, the argument then being that things went well in spite of them. Shami was trolled and abused not because his performance in the match was below par but because he is a Muslim. The entire team performed below par, with other bowlers and batters too failing as much as Shami to put up a fight. But others did not have to face the vicious attack that Shami was subjected to. He was called a traitor and was told to go to Pakistan, and it was also suggested that he had taken money to lose to Pakistan.
The entire country should be ashamed of such a response, which shows how pernicious is the malaise that has affected society and how deep the rot has gone. The communal poison that has infected it is influencing its attitudes and responses and judgement of people and events in all fields of life. It is often argued that only some individuals are seen to be openly malicious and indulge in such tirades and the entire society should not be blamed for them. While this is true, it is also a fact that such campaigns are becoming more toxic now and more frequent and widespread than in the past. Hatred, divisiveness and hostilities are so much promoted that everything is seen through the prism of caste, community and religion. The attack on Shami was not an isolated event. There were also reports of attacks on Kashmiri students after India lost the match.
It should also be noted that neither the Indian cricket team nor the BCCI came out strongly and clearly in support of Shami or condemned the attack on him. All the players have social media accounts with a large following. No-one criticised the targeting of Shami and expressed their solidarity with him. BCCI is a public institution which has the responsibility to support its players in such situations. This was when the BCCI and the team supported the ICC’s call to protest against racism by taking the knee. A number of former players expressed their support for Shami, but they too avoided the fact that he was targeted for being Muslim. It is unfortunate that the response from the sports community did not recognise the problem for what is, and there is a lack of moral and political courage in this.