How Sachin Tendulkar Exposed The Whitewashing of Islamic Fanaticism

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan wrote an article in English daily The Hitavada dated 21 November 1993. In that, he pointed out some shortcomings of the Muslim society. He wrote:

Where the non-Muslim press presents the Muslim cases in totality, the Muslim press gives only half the picture. For instance, in the Bhagalpur riots in October 1989, bombs were initially set off by Muslims. It was only after this that Hindus set fire to Muslim properties. The non-Muslim press described the acts of both the communities, including the fact that the Hindu destruction of the Muslim property had been on a much larger scale than the damage caused by the Muslim bombs, yet flying in face of facts, the Muslims wanted no mention of bomb-throwing. They wanted only the burning of their property by the Hindus to be highlighted.

Similarly, when the Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992, the Muslims of Bombay wanted no mention of their subsequent rioting & destruction, which sparked off Hindu acts of revenge, again on a much larger scale. They wanted facts damaging to themselves to be suppressed so that they might appear to be the innocent, injured party. This attitude extends to every important sphere of Muslim existence…It is on the basis of this kind of one-sided and partial news reporting that Muslims want to create their own press.

We see this attitude everywhere, not just of Muslims, but also of their Left-minded apologists, whitewashing the fanaticism of Muslims and painting them as victims. Many Muslims consider themselves as victims and deny the crimes committed by fellow-Muslims against others. For example, a shockingly large number of Muslims including well-educated, well-to-do people genuinely believe that 9/11 attacks on the USA were done by Jews to make USA target Muslims, or by the USA Government itself. Same is the case with Godhra and many other cases like 26/11, where many simply deny that Islamic fanatics did these crimes.

Iconic cricketer Sachin Tendulkar revealed how the whitewashing of Muslim fanaticism is done. Though it was not his intention to do that, it was just a passing mention, and it simply described an event, it also unintentionally resulted in a thorough expose of the whitewashing of fanaticism. Sachin Tendulkar wrote in his autobiography “Playing It My Way” (co-authored with cricket writer Boria Majumdar) in the chapter “My First Tour”:  

(In the 1st Test in Karachi on 15 November 1989) Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first on a greenish wicket so I didn’t have long to wait to walk onto the field for the first time as an India player. My life had taken a giant leap and it is a moment I will always remember. It also happened to be Kapil Dev’s 100th Test match and we were all excited for him. Only Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar had achieved the distinction before.

My first day of international cricket wasn’t without drama and one incident, in particular, left an unpleasant feeling. In the post-lunch session, a bearded man clad in salwar kameez entered the field and went straight up to Kapil Dev, abusing him for being in Pakistan. Kapil, who was preparing to bowl at the time, later recounted to us that he asked the fellow to leave him alone and allow him to continue with the game. After his exchange with Kapil, the intruder then went over to mid-off, where Manoj Prabhakar, our top fast bowler on the tour, was fielding. He abused Prabhakar before moving on to skipper (Krishnamachari) Srikkanth – and with Srikkanth he got physical. In those days, with the sport far less commercialized, players could choose what kit to wear. Most of our team preferred T-shirts, but Srikkanth liked to wear a buttoned shirt and this was torn open in the scuffle.

I was fielding at the point and I was scared I would be next and was ready to run to the safe confines of the dressing room if the intruder came towards me. Up to this point, no security personnel had done anything to stop the intruder from disrupting things in the middle. It was only when the Indian captain was being manhandled that security finally came onto the ground to drag the spectator off. It was a serious security lapse, yet the organizers seemed hardly perturbed. The truth is that it was much more than a cricket match that was being played between the two teams. The political history of partition has always cast a pall over India–Pakistan cricket and it was my first taste of this unfortunate reality.

The next day we were even more astonished to find the Pakistan press suggesting that the intruder had actually been trying to congratulate Kapil Dev on playing his 100th Test match. The issue of Srikkanth’s torn shirt didn’t merit a mention by the local media.”

Now let us see how Sachin Tendulkar’s team-mate Sanjay Manjrekar (who was India’s hero in that series, and had scored 218 in an innings against Pakistan in the 3rd Test in Lahore) described this incident in his autobiography “Imperfect”, reported on ESPNCricinfo:

My first day of international cricket in Pakistan [meaning Day 1 of the 1st Test in Karachi, on 15 November 1989] is one I will never forget. It was the afternoon session in Karachi, Pakistan were batting and I was fielding at mid-on. Suddenly from behind me I heard someone muttering something about 'Kashmir' and 'you Indians'. I looked back to see a person in a grey Pathani suit walk past me and head towards the pitch. He had just nonchalantly walked in with a Test match going on. When he reached the pitch, he started shouting anti-India slogans – basically, telling us we shouldn't have come on tour. As the fielding team, we didn't know what to do, so most of us just stayed in our places hoping that the people who were supposed to take care of such matters would do their job.

The umpires (Our comment: They were neutral umpires of England) tried to intervene, but the man went straight for the then Indian captain, Kris Srikkanth. The next thing we saw, to our utter shock and disbelief, was Srikkanth and the man exchanging blows. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Srikkanth was now holding him by his shirt, and there was pulling and tugging from both sides. It was a streetfight, except that it was happening during a Test match, and one of the persons involved was the India Test captain.

Within seconds, a few other players joined the fight. The man was surrounded by the Indian players. I don't clearly recall who all were there but Kiran More, always the team man, definitely got involved. I found it a little funny, watching More, with his pads on, trying to kick the intruder through all the legs and bodies that had surrounded him. It was also slightly amusing that the only fallout of this was Srikkanth going off the field for a couple of overs to change his shirt after he had lost all the buttons in the scuffle. The Test match continued as if nothing had happened. If this had happened today, the series would have been called off.

We now know that such an incident is no laughing matter, but this was 1989 and those were different days. Pakistan was a different country. They were also a different cricket team, unlike any other team the world had seen…” (Link)

This reveals a lot of things. Sachin Tendulkar reveals that the security did not intervene until the intruder got physical with Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Maybe it took action only when other Indian players joined Srikkanth as it realized that the intruder was outnumbered and overpowered. Despite such a serious security lapse, Tendulkar reveals that the organizers were not bothered. They obviously were happy that this was happening, so that the Indian cricketers would be intimidated and scared, and perhaps were hoping that it would result in their performance being affected. The lines “The truth is that it was much more than a cricket match that was being played between the two teams. The political history of partition has always cast a pall over India–Pakistan cricket and it was my first taste of this unfortunate reality.” reveal a lot. It means that more than a cricket match, the Pakistani organizers and security men looked at it as a chance to intimidate and scare the Indians by all possible means.

What Sachin Tendulkar revealed about the Pakistani media’s reporting of the issue the next day exposes everything. As if all this was not enough, the Pakistani press lied that the man was in fact trying to congratulate Kapil Dev on playing his 100th Test! It completely ignored the fact of Srikkanth’s torn shirt, which would reveal that the man could not possibly have come ‘to congratulate’ Kapil Dev.

The Indian cricketers may have been astonished to find the Pakistani press report thus, but those who know the Islamists’ mentality are not. This is precisely what they do. This incident happened on television, with neutral British umpires present, and an Indian cricket captain’s shirt was torn. Yet, in such a clear case they had the audacity to lie, whitewashing the assaulter’s fanaticism.

Some Indian cricketers like Sanjay Manjrekar do not seem to have learnt anything from this experience and seem to be bitten by the ‘seckularist’ bug, supporting people like Nikhil Wagle and protests against BJP in Mumbai in support of Left in JNU and acting as apologists of radical Islamists on numerous occasions.

Although that incident of 1989 revealed by Sachin Tendulkar was not of killing, it aptly exposes the attitude and behaviour of radical Islamists, both in the media as well as on the field.

Let us take another incident, of Godhra. Everyone knows that a mob of 2,000 fanatics Muslims burnt to coal 59 Hindus there, including 25 women and 15 children (including babies and toddlers) in a well-planned attack on 27 February 2002. Some Muslims of Godhra claimed that “We went there to extinguish the fire”. This is like saying that the killers and rapists of Nirbhaya went there to save her.

The fake Banerjee Committee, appointed by the then Railway Minister of UPA, Lalu Yadav too said in January 2005 (a fortnight before the Bihar Assembly elections of February 2005) that Muslims went there to put out the fire. It of course, did not answer why the Ram sewaks did not run out of the train if the fire was accidental and if there was no mob of Muslims surrounding the train to prevent them from running away, and how so many stones were pelted on the train and how burning rags were thrown on the train.

Or take the recent cases of Tabhilighi Jamaat members molesting female nurses, doctors in hospitals, attacking doctors, police etc in April 2020. We saw apologists of Islamists like Sadananda Dhume and camouflaged Islamic radicals like Arfa Sherwani disbelieving this and instead accusing the nurses who complained this of lying! Arfa Sherwani had done no investigation of the matter, yet she defended her co-religionists. It is very likely that Tabhilighi Jamaat members will behave in such a manner towards unbelieving, kafir and idolatrous women.

Whenever possible, the radical Islamists (and their Leftist minded supporters) try to deny that the Islamic radicals did something inappropriate. In this case of the intruder coming on the ground, tearing the shirt of the Indian Test captain, and abusing Indians in the middle of a Test match, they lied that he was in fact trying to congratulate Kapil Dev! In cases where there are killings, they simply deny that radical Islamists did it.

In March 2003, in Kashmir's Nadimarg, 24 Hindus were killed by radical Islamic terrorists. This fact of 24 Hindus being killed there could not be denied by anyone. After this, Aaj Tak news channel reported in a news strip "Pakistan condemns the killings of 24 Hindus in Kashmir." This item was written in both Hindi and English. When I read it, it sounded as if Pakistan condemned the act of terrorism.

But do you know what Pakistan Television reported? At that time, PTV was available on our Cable TV. PTV said: "Indian Police gun down 24 Hindus in occupied Kashmir. Pakistan condemns this act of the Indian Police." This news was described in this manner! Pakistan did not accept that radical Islamists killed the Hindus, and condemn the act of Islamic terrorism. It accused Indian Police of killing the Hindus, and condemned the 'act of the Indian Police'! The dishonesty of the Pakistan-apologist TV channel Aaj Tak too is exposed here. It did not report what PTV actually reported. Instead, it reported as if Pakistan condemned the attack of terror, while conveniently not mentioning that Pakistan TV accused Indian Police of killing the 24 Hindus, which it should have very prominently, and condemned it for such horrific lies.

It is their old strategy- to attack others, whitewash the fanaticism of co-religionists, and call any resistance to their attacks as ‘Attack, attack’! This is like a thief shouting ‘Thief, Thief’ and getting away!

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