Indian National Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday strongly criticised the BCCI’s recent move asking Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to release Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Tharoor said that sport should be kept separate from politics and should not be made to carry the weight of broader political disputes.
“I made my view very clear on this from the start. I’ve argued for some time that sport should be kept apart from politics, or rather that sport should not be made to bear the principal burden of political failures," Tharoor said.
He emphasised that India has multiple channels for engaging with Bangladesh, pointing out ongoing diplomatic interactions.
“The fact of the matter is that there are many other ways in which we are dealing with Bangladesh, as we have to. Our Foreign Minister was just there a couple of days ago, meeting with the man who is widely expected to be the likely winner of the next election and therefore the likely Prime Minister."
“We are conducting various aspects of engagement with the people of Bangladesh," he said.
On the sensitive issue of recent attacks on minorities in Bangladesh, Tharoor clarified that the Indian government is already addressing the matter diplomatically.
“On the recent atrocities against minorities, which I myself have spoken out about, we are already urging the government to assert law and order over these lawless elements in the streets. At such a delicate moment, this seems to me to have been an extremely unfortunate and unwise decision," he said.
Tharoor also expressed concern over social media outrage influencing official decisions.
“It’s also troubling that we have seen the kind of social media outrage driving policy. Some things I think should be beyond this kind of thing," he said, stressing that cricket should remain insulated from political controversies.
On January 3, Tharoor had reacted to criticism of Mustafizur Rahman’s participation in the IPL, highlighting that the cricketer has no personal involvement in any political or communal issue.
“Mustafizur Rahman is a cricketer and has nothing to do with any of these things. He has not been personally accused of any hate speech or condoning or defending any attacks. Mixing these two things is simply not fair," he said.
Tharoor had further cautioned against isolating neighbouring countries on the basis of political differences.
“If we become a country that isolates all of our neighbours, and say nobody is playing with any of them, how does it do any good? It is purely a sporting decision, and we should not let politics come into this. We surround Bangladesh on three sides. We cannot isolate them. We have to play with them," he added.
The remarks come amid a debate in India over the participation of Bangladeshi players in the IPL, following criticism from some political quarters.
Source: News18