India’s communal politics have made international headlines, albeit for the wrong reasons. The new orange jersey for Team India to be used against hosts England at the cricket world cup has created a political controversy of sorts over the choice of orange colour. Parties having allergies to colours is a known phenomenon in India, but by associating it to sport, our politics have plummeted the depths of disgrace at the international level.
ICC had asked participating teams to give an alternate away jersey to avoid clash of similar colour. Australia and West Indies were exceptions since their colours were distinctly different from other nations. The colour options available to India were orange, white and green. Orange was the obvious choice since the existing jerseys have similar elements and also the team’s T20 jersey was also similar.
It is unfortunate that the colour controversy has been raked at a time when India is cruising along in its World Cup campaign and eyeing a semi-final berth. It’s an unwanted distraction for the players and the team management in London. For a nation which takes pride in being one of most populist democracies in the world, this will come as a major embarrassment at the international level.
Bowling a googly over team jerseys is not in the true spirit of the sport. In a country where cricket is worshipped like religion, such political taints are only going to backfire. The NDA has already made a political statement in the recent Lok Sabha elections decimating the Opposition. Such feeble attempts to claw back and gain public attention are going to be counter-productive. It only appears that pseudo patriots are running riot and trying to use the high stage of cricket to instill hate.
Why didn’t a single political party object to the orange jerseys worn by the Indian hockey team in the 2018 Champions Trophy in Oman? Or when in 2017 the first Women Ice Hockey team made their appearance in saffron colours in Alberta? The BJP was also in power then. Even our Olympian Sakhi Malik, wrestler Kavita Devi and tennis player Sania Mirza have been sporting saffron colours. In 2012, India had won the orange jersey and that time there was no Modi government in power. So, does that imply that all sporting teams should refrain from the saffron colour because the BJP is in power? How would parties react if India had to choose green in place of orange. Pro-Paikstan?
Procedural decisions having the remotest connections to the BJP and the RSS are seen with suspicion in the current political landscape. The allergies of colour are clearly visible. Parties should refrain from indulging in politics of colour in sports, it’s not going get any mileage.
