By Neeraj Nanda
Melbourne: What else can one expect from the Hindu Right Shiv Sena in Mumbai? A boycott or disruption of Australian players or matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) against attacks on Indian students in Australia. Don’t be surprised. This is just one of the issues on its extremist agenda. Their actions and threats against Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tandulkar, Hindi speaking people, attacking Valentine Day celebrations and past role in communal riots is well known. Its extra constitutional role on any issue that fits its extremist agenda is not new.
Yes, there have been attacks on Indian students in Australia (most in Melbourne) and they have been condemned by a wide variety of people and organisations. The Victorian government sees them more as ordinary crime while many others (including the students) either see them as racist or opportunistic or a mix of racism and opportunism. It depends how you see these attacks. But the Shiv Sena’s sympathy for Indian students in Australia is suspect and its call to boycott Australian players shameful and a disgrace. Coming from an organisation (in decline now) which is famous as a bully and instigator of violence, exposes the difficult and violent times we live in.
The Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA),wrote a letter to Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thakare not to boycott or harm Australian players as “Now is the time for those Indians who have bravely stood up for the rights of Indians in Australia to also recognise that Australian Cricketers were the first Australians to voice their condemnation of the attacks on Indians in Melbourne. Great cricket players such as Mr Shane Warne had termed the attacks against Indians as ‘atrocious and unacceptable’ way back in May/June 2009.” And
“It is the Indian student’s strong desire that there should be no violence or protests against Australian cricketers and instead the Australian Cricketers should be invited to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Indian students and become FAIR GO Ambassadors for all Indians especially when they return to Australia.”
This stand has been appreciated and supported by Cricket Australia. During a recent media conference at the MCG its spokesman said, “Cricket Australia says that there is no place for racism in the field or off field.”
Good enough! But we have yet to see what actually happens. Named after Shivaji, the King who had people of many religions in his army, the Shiv Sena’s intolerance and hate against minorities, Hindi speaking North Indians or anyone non Maharashtrian speaks for itself. Only recently it was pitted against master blaster and cricket legand Sachin Tandulkar for saying that “Mumbai belongs to all Indians.” It is also (as we go to Press) violently opposing Bollywood Badhshah Shah Rukh Khan’s movie ‘My Name is Khan’, for saying that Pakistani players should have been taken in IPL teams.
The organisation’s many supporters were implicated for the violent riots in 1993 after the demolition of Babri Masjid by Hindu hardliners. Only recently many North Indians (mainly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) faced physical violence emanating from the Sena’s ideology of hate and exclusion.It has been desperate to regain lost politrical ground after in the last Assembly elections the Sena split and faced a setback at the hands of the Congress and its ally the NCP (composed of Ex-Congressmen). In the early seventies and eighties the Sena targeted the Left trade unions with all the intimidation and violence. Their threat to Australian players in the IPL should be seen in the context of its extreme Right wing regional-national and political agenda.
The Indian people in Australia who love both the Indian and Australian players cannot but condemn the call to boycott Australian cricket players in the IPL. It is as bad as launching a tirade against the movie ‘My Name is Khan’ or attacking innocent people in Mumbai for being non Maharashtrians.Or, as bad as an Indian student being attacked in Melbourne.Violence in any form needs to be condemned whether it is against Indian students in Victoria or in the form of a boycott or disruption of a cricket match in Mumbai or elsewhere.
Gautam Gupta of FISA says: “We are with anyone who believes in ‘Fair Go’ in India or Australia and against anyone who promotes violence anywhere”. It remains to be seen what course events will take.
While it is the duty of the Indian government to provide safety to Australian and other players during IPL matches, it is also the duty of all cricket lovers in India and Australia (including Indian and South Asians in Australia) to condemn violence and protect the gentleman’s game from extremist forces that have nothing but to go by their unfair agendas.
The New York Times in a recent article quotes Mahesh Bhatt, Bollywood filmmaker who has many times clashed with the Shiv Sena as saying, “The tipping has come. You have to call the bluff of these people”.
- From South Asia Times, February 2010 issue
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