Following multiple discussions and deliberations, the BCCI has approved for the much-touted orange jersey that the Indian cricket team will don in the match against England on 30 June in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. As reported by news agency ANI, the following combination has been purportedly agreed upon –
ICC says colour options were given to BCCI and they chose what they felt went best with the colour combination. The whole idea is to be different as England also wears a same shade of blue as India. The design is taken from India’s old T20 jersey which had orange in it. pic.twitter.com/PkPmsjmny6
— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2019
This change is because according to the rules of the current World Cup, only the hosts i.e. England are allowed to maintain their color combinations. All the other teams have to change their jerseys while playing against England. In accordance with the same, most of the teams with blue jerseys had to change their colors, be it Sri Lanka, or Afghanistan.
The newly approved jersey combination has been overwhelmingly approved by millions of Indian cricket fans. However, as usual, the political leaders found another reason to spew venom against anything that is even remotely Indian. They’re now offended that the jersey will proudly bear the saffron color, which is why some of the aghast opposition leaders, have of all people, started targeting BJP for the color combination.
Yes, let that sink in. The opposition is now blaming BJP for the alleged ‘saffronization’ of the cricket. Leading the pack was notorious MLA from Samajwadi Party, Abu Asim Azmi. He said, “Modi ji wants to saffronise the entire country. A Muslim was the one who designed the Indian Tricolour. There are other colours in the Tricolour, why choose only orange? It will be better if their jersey is based on the Tricolour.”
#WorldCup2019 : A controversy broke out on Wednesday as Congress and Samajwadi Party objected to Team India donning an orange jersey in their World Cup encounter against England. @abuasimazmi @BJP4India@INCIndia @samajwadiparty pic.twitter.com/BHT57E9MIk
— Newsroompost (@NewsroomPostCom) June 26, 2019
Before going anywhere else, let us remind the people that it was Pingali Venkayya, who is officially known for designing the Indian tricolor flag. Apart from communalizing the situation, Abu Asim Azmi didn’t hesitate from mocking the Indian cricket team indirectly for choosing the proposed colors. Following him in bashing the central government was Congress MLA Naseem Khan, who said, “Ever since the Modi government has come to power, it has been playing saffron politics. The Tricolour should be respected and national harmony should be promoted. This government wants to saffronise everything.”
However, these comments were not kindly received by people, who scoffed at these politicians for their lowly politics. Union Minister Ramdas Athawale supported Team India’s orange jersey, who said, “It is the colour of courage and victory. No one should have a problem with that.”
BJP MLA from Maharashtra Ram Kadam joined the chorus, as he attacked the opposition for their absurd rhetoric, saying, “Hence they are politicizing what should be the colour of Indian team’s jersey….Why not saffron? Why they hate saffron so much? The BJP’s flag has both green and saffron in it. Let the cricketers decide the colour of their jerseys. Will the opposition decide that?”
The opposition has clearly run out of valid arguments and discussions, which is why they are now desperately trying to stay relevant by saying anything that would keep them in limelight, even if it reduces the credibility of their parties to a mere joke.