The following article was written for Op India. Pasting it here for reference:
When major events (sports, elections etc) happen, newspaper and TV Editors typically keep two headlines ready for either result, to save time at the end of the event. When India lost to Australia in the World Cup cricket finals, there was an immediate outrage on two things – One, the crowd at the stadium and two, our Prime Minister! It’s like they had their posts ready before the match (just like the editors) because the speed with which they rolled them out clearly meant that they were waiting for our country to lose so that they could settle their meagre scores.
The gist of their complaint about our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is captured in this Twitter post by someone from the Congress party. India won ICC titles (World Cup, Champions Trophies) when the Congress was in power and did not win a single ICC trophy (despite some events or the other happening every year). Now that they opened this box, it becomes essential that we remind this gang of the amazing strides India has made in international sports events after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014.
India won her highest-ever medal tally in the Olympics in Tokyo 2021 (7 medals). India won over 100 medals for the first time in history at the Asian Games in 2023 (107 medals!). Not just this, India won her highest-ever medal tally at the Paralympics in Tokyo in 2021 (19 medals) and at the Asian Para Games in 2023 (111 medals). The list certainly doesn’t end here. We’ve won our first-ever gold at the World Athletic Championships (and also the highest medal tally). We’ve won the highest number of medals at the World Badminton Championships. India added 44 Grandmasters in Chess, in just these 9 years.
While this can be attributed to mere good luck or to Nehru by the Congress party, the medals in the Asian and Olympic games did not happen just like that. The Prime Minister placed a very special focus on sports and ensured that our sportspersons were provided with the best facilities and training. The unique scheme – TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) – gave the best possible training to these athletes. We have all seen how the Prime Minister personally meets all the participants and encourages them. We have all seen how he personally congrats each medal winner on social media. And more importantly, we have all seen how he personally connects with those who fought well but couldn’t make it to the podium. Even for this World Cup, we have seen how he went to the dressing room and interacted with our players.
The gang constantly jokes about the PM’s interactions with our sportspersons, but can you possibly imagine the huge impact the Prime Minister of the country makes on our sportsperson through all these personal interactions? Don’t we all always look for that word of appreciation or word of comfort from our leaders at work? Why then should the sportspersons be deprived of this connection?
The second issue this gang had was with the crowd at the Ahmedabad stadium. Controversial website The Wire (known popularly as Liar the Wire) even went ahead and concluded that the crowd “diminished India in the eyes of the World”. I, for one, believe The Wire has exemplary courage. It takes real courage to talk and judge like this after perpetuating a big fraud like they have done! Anyways, we digress.
The complaint against the crowd was varied – they didn’t cheer enough for India; they didn’t clap when Head hit a century; they chanted the wrong names of the players. The gang went on to compare this crowd to the Eden Gardens crowd, the Wankhede crowd, and the Chennai crowd. Crores of people in this world are passionate about sports and often react very strongly when the result doesn’t go their way. In India, we have seen how the Eden Gardens crowd disrupted the 1996 World Cup Semifinal, by even burning things in the stadium. There was an unsavoury incident in 1999 too, when we were losing to Pakistan and Sachin had to come onto the ground and appeal for peace. Did this not diminish our stature? The Wankhede crowd once booed Sachin Tendulkar. Srilankan players don’t form part of the Chennai IPL team because of issues some Tamilians have with Srilanka! Don’t these events diminish their stature? In contrast, what did the Ahmedabad crowd do to “diminish India”? They didn’t clap when the Australian player hit a century!
This gang is an expert at normalising violence and boorish behaviour when it comes to making their point. They are expert at creating a divide when none exists. They are experts at linking everything to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and won’t hesitate in plunging to any depth to demean India and Indians. Well, this gang can continue their meaningless rants. India will march ahead like never before.
PS: Nothing can still beat the coverage that NDTV gave for Rahul Gandhi when India won the semi-finals and finals of 2011 World Cup. Many examples here. But sample this: In a slide show titled “A billion voices thank men in blue” – 5 slides are dedicated to Rahul Gandhi’s moods!
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