The Evening of 18th June: Few Celebrated, Many suffered and Rest of us remained reluctant to talk

I am going to talk about the truth that nobody wants to talk about, the truth that makes you uncomfortable in your seats. People before me have dealt with this truth, but they were bashed, they were threatened, they were called intolerant and were stamped the title “communal” and their voice was subdued. The truth has always been swept under the carpet.

As the upper order batsmen went to the pavilion one after the other last Sunday, the news and videos of fireworks and celebrations in places like Kashmir, Aligarh Muslim University and several other Muslim neighbourhoods all over the country became viral on social media. My first-hand experience in Ranchi was the same. People were actually unbelievably celebrating the loss of India, their own country, in one of the most overhyped cricket match in my recent memory.

Here are some tweets that I collected,the night this absurdity was going on:

https://twitter.com/Aravind8/status/876485969968607232

https://twitter.com/TheJaipurGuy/status/876495134489067521

https://twitter.com/Nava_Hindutva/status/876492556695154689

https://twitter.com/rupasubramanya/status/876491556106018816

I find it most astonishing that people who eat of the land of this great nation, who work and live here without prejudice, in the greatest democracy of the world, could not support it when the entire nation’s passion was deeply invested in this one particular match. They shouldn’t have done this, just to respect the feelings of their brethren. I don’t watch much football, but I cheer for the same club my friends cheer for, because I am grateful about our friendship.

No matter how much you whitewash it or look the other way, the truth will not change: Some Muslims celebrated Pakistan’s victory.

After reading my last sentence if the first thing that comes into your mind is that cricket is just a game and should not be politically motivated, then you’re a dumbwit and you are half the reason why this is happening in the first place.

Sports is a part of human culture, like arts. Both flourish when there is peace between the communities or countries. Should a martyr’s wife appreciate an artist’s work from Pakistan, just because it wasn’t the artist who pulled the trigger? Neither can flourish when one of the communities is terrorizing the other and it shouldn’t even be expected. The idea that the cricket is just a game and people are allowed to cheer for whoever they wish for is outright ridiculous.

The Argentinians, or Australians didn’t invade my land with the intentions of destroying my belief system, culture and freedom. Cheer whoever you like, but not Pakistan. You might not have been directly affected by Pakistan, nobody in your family might have died by a Pakistani bullet, nobody in your family might be living in constant fear of a family member’s death even during peace time. The terrorist infiltration is incessant. That does not mean you turn into an ostrich, with heads buried deep in the sand pretending all is okay.

Of course, not all Muslims cheer for Pakistan. Of course, you cannot call all our Muslim brothers traitors for the act of some. Some secular Pundits might justify the act, claiming those Muslims would cheer for both India and Pakistan. The so called secular brigade will shout “Freedom of Speech and Expression” for any anti-national activity. But most of you will either deny this ever happens or look the other way. But there is no hiding from the sun. One of my close friends, who is a Muslim, and is usually Burkha clad, once confessed to me that she cheers for India in an India Pakistan match, but cheers for Pakistan when Pakistan is up against any other country.

Ask yourself, would you cheer for Pakistan, ever? I heard your answer, secular brigade. You would call cricket a game and will try to separate it from politics, war, religion and most importantly, reality. Your answer will defer from most of India, because unlike you, we Indians don’t have memory loss. Unlike you we remember when the dead bodies of soldiers, which are unrecognizable, return to our villages. We haven’t forgotten the wars of 1947, 1965, 1971 or 1999. We do not forget the countless times the Pakistani army has mutilated the corpses of our brave soldiers. No matter how much you deny it, secular brigade, Pakistan’s top administration, Army, Intelligence and a huge bunch of people want to rule all over India, if we let them, if our soldiers stop guarding our borders. It doesn’t take your foreign education to see who is killing my brothers for seventy years, when we have tried talking peace for decades but are always invaded instead. Pakistan is undeniably our archenemy.

It’s no wonder, every cricket match in India is little short of a real war. We hate each other’s guts. Any sorts of relation from this breeding ground of terrorists which is state sponsored, should be severed, including sports. Indian Hockey Team wore black ribbons to show their angst against this absolute blot on the face of humanity, a disgrace in the history of mankind. But, there were celebrations in many Muslim neighborhoods all over India for the shameful defeat that India suffered at the hands of Pakistan. Should this be allowed to happen under the pretext of “Freedom of Speech”? The answer in my opinion, is NO.

It is apparent through several instances over decades and also understandable that the some Muslims of India have some sympathy towards Pakistan.

Why shouldn’t they? They have been continuously forced to be suspicious of Hindus by the appeasing politicians. Muslims, in general, are globally united and move as one body. Remember the Khilafat Movement? Moreover, those Pakistanis were part of this country seven decades ago, brothers who walked and fought against a common foe. The common people had their fate decided by their leaders. Pakistan was created for Muslims who didn’t feel safe living among their Hindu brethren even in a secular country.

This begs the question: Do the endangered species of Hindus in Pakistan cheer for India or Pakistan?

India is not the land of or for Hindus, unlike Pakistan which was carved out of India for the Muslims. India is for everyone. Why do Hindus not feel the same love for Pakistan as fellow Indian Muslims? Why don’t Sikhs or Buddhists or Christians feel the same about Pakistan? Because Pakistan is an Islamic country, created especially for the Muslims, not for Hindus, not for Buddhists, not for Christians. The law of Pakistan is Sharia inspired, where rationalists like Ayaz Nizami is arrested for blasphemy, while Twitter trends #HangAyazNizami, for he criticized some core Islamic principles. It’s a place where some Muslims of India feel they will not be judged for being a Muslim, for supporting sharia, for rejecting modernization and rational thinking, as these culprits cannot tolerate the presence of another faith or culture apart from their own.

But the Indians do not hate the idea of Pakistan because it’s an Islamic country. We hate Pakistan because Pakistan and India could have been great allies, the strongest in the world, but instead we are suffering war like conditions since 1947, and was invaded four times. Instead, we are subjected to Islamic terror unlike we have ever seen. 1993 Mumbai, 2001 parliament, 2002 Akshardham, 2005 Ayodhya, 2005 Delhi, 2006 Varanasi, 2008 Jaipur, 2008 Ahmedabad, 2008 Mumbai, the list of Pakistan orchestrated/ aided terror attacks is never-ending. While the custodians of secularism might free the people of Pakistan from all responsibilities of War and Terror against India, but the good people there are still part and supporter of a regime that has tried everything from the book to become India’s enemy #1, which is why the entire Pakistan, and not just the governance is hateable.

Already offended? Let’s talk about those good Muslims of India who are loyal to secular India, who don’t celebrate India’s loss to Pakistan. My question to them and everyone is: Why didn’t you come out of your homes and discouraged this anti-India behaviour? Why didn’t any Muslim Imam issued any fatwa against such acts? Imams are pretty fast and keen on issuing threats against those who sing a Hindu Bhajan, why there lacks a proper uproar against not just this, any pro-Pakistan activity by some misguided youths. Why did you not shame anyone in your community for anti-India sentiments, if you are loyal to your motherland? Why did you not slap those who burned the Tricolour? Why did no Mosque announce that no real Muslim should go against their motherland? Why did you not drive Pakistani loyalists away from your community? Why did you not protest on the roads against such actions?

I have a lot of faith in my Muslim brethren. Two generations have passed since the partition and I am sure this is where almost all of them will feel at home– in India, where no one is discriminated, where they enjoy special privileges given by the Minority Commission, where the date of Visarjan during Dusshehra changes for Muharram. But I will not look away when even a handful of you will go against my country. I will not be silent when those miscreants will plan to break my country. Hell, I will write an article just when you raise pro-Pakistan slogans and I appeal to all moderate Muslims of India: Don’t let anyone doubt your loyalty towards India, discourage all anti-India activity right at the beginning.