This is a recirculation of an old article written in 2021 , as a reminder who feel SECULARISM a burden. Mohd Shammi's spectacular performance proves that We must keep religion aside and stop looking at everything through the Prism of Religion.
The way Indians abused Mohd Shami on social media after the defeat against Pakistan is an indicator of the rot that has set in, in our society .
Although its not a recent phenomenon, even the movie Chak de India depicted this, where a muslim hockey player after the loss to Pakistan was harassed by his own neighbors.
So, what happened with Shammi was no different.
In 50s to 90s we were a struggling Nation with very few achievements to show and with the historical rivalry with Pakistan and muslims such behavior was expectable, However, what is disappointing now is that despite being the 5th largest economy, possessing , 5th largest armed forces, given numerous CEOs to top global companies, becoming the global IT hub, we have become petty minded and still suffer from disgusting levels of inferiority complex.
The other change that has taken place now is courtesy, social media the criticism and harassment of muslim sportsmen is no more localized . We need to realise that this unfair criticism of muslims has far reaching implications.
One has to be really very strong mentally to get over this harassment which may have an impact on the performance and the behavior of the sportsmen, but also of the entire community to which he/ she belongs.
If we continue to behave in this manner, We as a country not only lose some fine sportsmen but may also give birth to millions of disgruntled citizens.
We are today not realizing how much damage these hard core religious fundamentalists on both sides are causing to the nation and the society.
Many thanks to Virat who rightly gave it back to those who abused Shammi. He threw his full support behind Mohammed Shami, and called the abusers - spineless.
He wrote ;
“There’s a good reason why we are playing on the field and not a bunch of spineless people on social media that have no courage to actually speak to any individual in person”.
“It has become a social pandemic in today’s world, which is so unfortunate and so sad to see because this is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at. And that’s how I look at these people.”
“Attacking someone over their religion is the most pathetic thing that a human being can do. They have no understanding of how much effort we put on the field. They have no understanding of the fact that someone like Shami has won India matches in the last few years.
“Honestly I don’t even want to waste one minute of my life to give any attention to those people and neither does Shami and neither does anyone else on the team.”
None should get surprised; If the social environment deteriorates any further, there is a likelihood that those who think that social media is helping them electorally by communalizing the society, may soon find the same as a burden and they will then not be able to get out the vicious circle.
Believe it or not the centuries old Biblical verse has stood test of the times ;
He who digs a pit will fall into it,
And he who rolls a stone, it will come back on him.
If we have to get out of this kind of a social environment WE NEED MORE VIRAAT KOHLIS.