BCCI is getting tagged for all the wrong reasons on social media. The trending tag #Shame is linked with the Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI. Why? Well, India is hosting the Bangladeshi Cricket Team for a cricket series. The series itself, the extra security guarantee to the Bangladeshi team, and the warm welcome to the Bangladeshi Team have set a wave of outrage sweeping across social media.
Several Hindu rights activists and nationalist groups are urging the BCCI to cancel the matches. They want the series canceled in protest of the ongoing violence against Hindus in Bangladesh. However, the team’s presence, the silence of the BCCI, and the scheduled matches are a silent slap in the face to those fighting for justice and accountability on both sides of the border. Let’s explore this outrage on the BCCI!
Hindu Rights Activists Tell BCCI: “No Cricket While Hindus Suffer”
🛑Shame on BCCI 🛑
How can they welcome those responsible for the harm to Hindus like this? Is cricket more important than our duty (Dharma)?
Is money the only priority for them? Do they not care about the lives of innocent Hindus in Bangladesh?#BCCI #BangladeshiHindus #Shame pic.twitter.com/gXIXhnswi3
— native indian (@en_evaga) September 17, 2024
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) and other nationalist groups have taken a firm stance against the upcoming cricket India-Bangldesh matches. They are calling for an immediate cancellation of all India-Bangladesh matches. Their message is clear: how can India play friendly games with a country where Hindus are being killed, raped, and terrorized daily?
Hindu Janajagruti Samiti sends a formal statement to BCCI to immediately cancel all India-Bangladesh cricket matches.#INDvsBAN pic.twitter.com/xSwd8MNFBV
— Sports With Naveen (@sportscey) September 16, 2024
With 230 reported deaths and countless incidents of violence against Hindus across 52 of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, the anger is palpable.
The resignation of Sheikh Hasina plummetted the dwindling Hindu population of Bangladesh into a fresh spate of horrors! Islamist mobs are terrorizing rural Hindu communities with impunity and Hindu teachers or civil servants are harassed into resignation. Just recently, Utsav Mandal, a young Hindu, was brutally assaulted inside a police station by a Jihadi mob in the presence of many policemen. Thus, the reality of anti-Hindu pogroms is evident and undeniable.
BCCI’s Silence Shames Hindu Activists On Both Sides
For Hindu rights groups on both sides of the border, the BCCI’s decision to host these matches is a deep betrayal. Activists, like Advocate Anish Paralkar of HJS and Vinayak Shinde of the Manav Seva Pratishthan, have submitted statements to both BCCI and the Indian government. They demand that this cricket series be called off until the Hindus of Bangladesh are safe. Their frustration stems from the stark contradiction observable in the actions of the government. On one hand, India claims to stand against human rights abuses.
However, on the other hand, it rolls out the red carpet for Bangladeshi cricketers, offering them added security, while Hindus across the border are left to fend for themselves.
#Shame on @BCCI , we need full responsibility,,we have to boycott @BC https://t.co/c45qeNWwxn
— Sushil (@Sushil04586459) September 17, 2024
The BCCI has maintained a shocking silence on the issue. Thus, the team’s presence and the match are seen as shameful by Hindu nationalists. Additionally, the match seems to be a form of distraction for the Indian sub-continent obsessed with cricket! It seems to be a way to divert attention from the real issue – the growing persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh. Hindu Activists on social media are telling the BCCI that this sporting event sends the wrong message everywhere.
Disgusted and gutted to see @BCCI doing this nonsense. Hindus in India, if you have any shame left, boycott these matches and let the stadiums be empty. They will learn lesson only when they lose financially.#BoycottBangladesh #NoCricketWithBangladesh pic.twitter.com/zhhwdy3PAz
— Tathvam-asi (@ssaratht) September 16, 2024
It seems to state that to the BCCI and Cricket Fanatics, the plight of Hindus is less important than the spectacle and revenue of cricket.
Cricket Diplomacy or Betrayal?
Some voices on the internet argue that continuing the matches could benefit Hindus in Bangladesh. They state that politics and sports should not cross lanes! And the matches may also help the diplomatic ties between the two nations grow. Thereby, giving India a larger say on how Hindus are being treated in the nation!
Therefore, they state that this cultural and sporting exchange can play an important role in soft diplomacy.
However, for Hindu nationalist groups, this is too little, too late. They strongly believe that engaging with Bangladesh gives the Islamist voices in the nation a way to flex Bangladesh’s dominance in a tussle of soft power. They firmly believe that holding these matches without addressing the violence against Hindus legitimizes the oppressive regime.
Moreover, it allows the Yunus government to continue its whitewashing of the truth and turn a blind eye to the suffering of Hindus.
Therefore, in the eyes of these activists, playing cricket with Bangladesh while atrocities persist is nothing short of a betrayal of Dharma. Hence, they demand that India should use the BCCI to take a strong stand against persecution of Bangladeshi Hindus. They call for accountability, not cricket! Consequently, these groups and nationalists view this series as a disgraceful endorsement of the Bangladeshi government’s failure to protect its Hindu minority. Therefore, #Shame is tagged with BCCI to trend on social media. The tags reflect a deep wound within the Hindu community. They state that the time for cricket diplomacy is over – what Hindus in Bangladesh need is government protection, not entertainment from another match.
