Arshdeep, Tilak and the Normalisation of Racial Abuse in Indian Sport

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A couple of days ago, I came across a social media post where Arshdeep Singh made fun of Tilak Varma’s skin colour. Tilak seemed to brush it off, and it was all normalised on social media. But that is precisely the problem. We normalise such talk because we are not sensitive enough. Arshdeep perhaps does not have the understanding of what he can say and what he cannot, and this issue is not limited to him alone. It is a deeply Indian problem, and we have all come to terms with it and accepted it as “eta ar ki emon byapar (this is no big deal).”

Take the case of Dhanraj Pillay, for example. When he first burst onto the scene, he dazzled everyone with his brilliance. It was almost impossible to stop him, and the common refrain during hockey matches was “kale ko pakad, kale ko pakad (catch the dark one)”. While narrating this to me, Pillay too did not think it was anything out of the ordinary. Rather, it was considered the norm and there was supposedly nothing wrong with it. That is how we speak, so what is the big deal?

Let us also consider the issue involving Nigerian footballers who plied their trade in Kolkata. Some of them are still adored and became cult figures. But that did not stop people from calling them “kalwa” or “kallu”. Cheema Okerie is one such example. One of the best players to have featured in the Indian system, he was fondly referred to as “kalo cheeta (black cheetah)”. Such language has become naturalised, and we fail to find fault in using these terms. That is where the real problem lies.

Arshdeep is not entirely at fault here. He perhaps does not even know where the line needs to be drawn. For him, it is all fun and banter. Tilak too did not know how to react and simply let it pass. What we need is greater education and sensitivity, and the sooner it happens, the better it will be for us in India.

Even today, if we go and watch a weekend game at the Kolkata Maidan where an African player is featuring, we will inevitably hear someone say “kalua” or “kalu” and similar slurs. While it is the responsibility of the player in question to immediately bring this to the referee’s notice, it is also the responsibility of everyone present to pull up the offender. It has to be a collective movement and cannot simply be left to officials and administrators.

For every Michael Holding, there are countless others who consider skin colour a licence to abuse and abuse itself an entitlement. For 400 years, we have not had a vaccine against this virus, and it is finally time we found one. There is an urgent need for sportsmen and sportswomen to unite against this evil, shun tokenism, and implement the pledge long promised – racial abuse will not be tolerated.

In fact, anyone who has been subjected to racial slurs but has chosen not to speak up is, in some measure, also helping perpetuate the problem. They should know that sport is insignificant in comparison to human dignity, and each one of them carries a responsibility towards society.

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