Let’s address the question directly: Why – amidst the ongoing stir against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citiz...
Let’s address the question directly: Why – amidst the ongoing stir against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens, the biggest protests in India of the past 45 years – should we expect our beloved athletes to offer us their views on the matter?
For me, the question arose in early December, when it became hard to ignore those at the end of police violence, lathis and tear gas. Standing up to the crushing might of the state were college students, whose ages coincided with the gifted young men and women I meet regularly as a sports journalist.
It is these young people, the majority of them students, who form the vast majority of the Indian sports fan base. They are, in fact, its constituency. The athletes I meet are their idols, their “faves”. The ones being rounded up, detained, chased, beaten, and arrested were the ages of cricketers Rishabh Pant and Jemimah Rodrigues; of those who would be going to the Tokyo Olympics this year, shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker; and those aiming to, like boxer Amit Panghal and badminton player PV Sindhu.
Did the superheroes not have anything to say on what was happening to young Indian men and women...
