Defending Shami: Cricketers Take On Hate Crowd In Great Act Of Resistance

The malice-fuelled worldview of bigots on social media just witnessed a robust pushback from rational India. The cricketing fraternity put up a heartening defence for pacer Mohammad Shami, and its message was unambiguous: Don’t mix cricket with your obnoxious opinions.

Shami, to recap the developments after India’s defeat to Pakistan in the ongoing T20 World Cup, has been subject to vicious trolling in the last few days. He had proved expensive, conceding more than ten runs per over, in an overall below-par show by the team. The trolls questioned his integrity and commitment to the country. Religion was brought into the toxic discourse. Nothing unusual, one must say, going by the trend in social media. The difference this time is the cricketing community choose not to look the other way. It was quick to throw its weight behind the beleaguered cricketer.

Gautam Gambhir, former cricketer and BJP MP called the troll attack on Shami ‘ridiculous’. “… How ridiculous can it be? Is it to say that Jasprit Bumrah or Bhubaneswar Kumar were more committed because they belong to a particular religion? Where are we heading?” He wrote in an article in the Times of India.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was unusually blunt. “Attacking someone over their religion is the most, I would say, a pathetic thing that a human being can do,” he told reporters. “…I personally have never ever even thought of discriminating anyone over their religion. That is a very sacred and personal thing to every human being, and that should be left there,” he added. He called social media trolls ”spineless people”.

Former opener Virender Sehwag, in his Twitter message called Shami a champion player. “…He is a champion and anyone who wears the India cap has India more in their hearts far more than any online mob.” Other cricketers have been equally forthcoming in their disapproval of the mob. And, for a change, words are not being minced.

It’s heartening because a section of civilised India is talking back to the mob while the rest has been guarded in its response. Not long ago, Olympian Neeraj Chopra was equally frank in his disapproval when trolls made a big noise of a Pakistani player using his javelin. Compare that to business houses, even powerful ones, giving in to the threats from the online hate-mongers and withdrawing advertisements or the heavyweights of filmdom hitting the mute button when colleagues are attacked on the basis of religion or creative social messaging.

When the mob dominates public discourse, there’s something inherently dangerous about it. It not only promotes views that are offensive to the educated, enlightened mind but also smothers sane dissenting voices. It has been doing so for a long now, imposing dubious moral codes on people and weaponising hate to achieve its goals. To make matters worse, the gap between online and offline has blurred in recent times. The evidence is in the recent cases of companies withdrawing advertisements or organisations cancelling events or filmmakers changing scripts or titles to keep the mob happy. Online threats quickly result in productive responses offline.

Surely, this is not how a normal world ought to be. This is the same crowd, said a cricketer in his tweet, who would pelt stones at the homes of cricket players or throw ink at them upon a team defeat earlier. The difference, one must add, is the crowd has grown viler and more organised in the time of social media. They can gang up and target people in a much easier fashion. Anonymity is a shield they use to telling effect. Technology offers no clear way to tackle them.

“Where are we heading?,” Gambhir asked in his article. Where indeed! The timid polite society, which considers the madness a passing phase, must raise the question too. Kohli calls the mob spineless people. But where is the spine in others? Kudos to the sporting community for displaying it. When Kohli embraced rival skipper Babar Azam after the defeat and MS Dhoni indulged in a discussion with Pakistani players, it was more than a sporting gesture; it was more an act of defiance. The message to the hate community was clear.

Yet it is not enough. The mob is just too immune to subtle gestures. It has to be taken head-on if the civilised society is serious about reclaiming its space in the public sphere. Perhaps social media is the answer to social media. The more intelligent people assert their presence on social media, the more the hate community is likely to shrink.

Sportspersons have set an example in defending Shami. The others must follow. Before that they need to discover their spines.