Cricket’s ‘Tilak’ Row: A Result of Growing Islamophobia in India

It should be noted that applying ‘tilak’ is a traditional welcoming custom in the Hindu and Jain communities. The sidestepping of this tradition by a pair of Muslim cricketers led to a flurry of retweets and comments from predominantly right-wing media outlets and users questioning their patriotism and their commitment to the national team. 

Another section of social media users, on the other hand, came to the cricketers’ defence. 

Many of the defenders were quick to point out what they felt was the hypocrisy of the first group. In the video, at least two Hindu members of the team — batting coach Vikram Rathour and video analyst Hari Prasad Mohan — can also be seen refusing the ‘tilak’. 

But none of the initial reactions focused on them. The feeling was that the two cricketers were singled out based on their religion.

The focus on Siraj and Malik is hardly surprising. As elite athletes who are in the national team of the most popular sport in India, they are way more prominent than two non-playing staff members of that same team. 

One could argue that even if a Hindu cricketer had refused the ‘tilak’, he would also have been on the receiving end of abuse.

This is because cricket has been the biggest unifier in India, connecting people across barriers of state, language, social status and identity. More than any other sport, it is the mirror in which the sociopolitical state of India is reflected clearly. 

The 1983 Cricket World Cup victory saw a shift in the underdog status of Indian cricket and India as a whole, with the patriotism inspired by that famous team providing a shot of self-confidence to the nation.

In the current times, the dominance of India in cricket is an indicator of the ruling dispensation’s fervour in ensuring India’s status as a global giant. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), nominally an autonomous private organisation whose Secretary is the son of the Minister of Home Affairs, is the most powerful governing body among its peers. Indian cricket is the trendsetter for the global game. 

This means that Indian cricketers are under immense scrutiny at all times, and their on-field and off-field behaviour is analysed to death. Lose a match, and you are a traitor to the country. Commit a minor lapse in public, and you are a bad role model to millions of youths and also a traitor to the country.

The fact that both Siraj and Malik are from modest backgrounds — the former is the son of a rickshaw puller, the latter the son of a fruit seller — and have achieved a higher social status due to their own talent and hard work matters very little. Right now, they are rich and famous, so they are held to a higher standard.

But it is not very far-fetched to say that the faith of the pair was indeed a major contributing factor. 

The rise of Islamophobia in India is well documented, and that is reflected in the gentleman’s game as well. Authority figures do not seem to care about fighting it, as evidenced by the BCCI’s public silence on the matter.

In October 2021, after a heavy loss to Pakistan in the T20 World Cup, Mohammed Shami received a torrent of online abuse, including death threats. The only Muslim on the Indian team at the time, the fast bowler, was accused of taking bribes from Pakistan to perform badly, despite the fact that all the Indian bowlers underperformed that day.

The furore on social media is indicative of how such platforms are used as tools to marginalise minority communities. Many users, influenced by social media ‘echo chambers’ that promote such divisive content, deliberately put out posts that achieve virality simply by inflaming communal tensions.

The reaction was not confined to social media. Several Kashmiri students at an engineering college in Punjab were assaulted by other Indian students allegedly because they had celebrated Pakistan’s victory. The Kashmiris squarely denied these claims.

This is reflective of the ongoing marginalisation of the minority Muslim population of India by the ruling dispensation at the centre and its supporters. 

Events of national interest, like cricket, are used as a litmus test to somehow prove patriotism. The assumption is that you can never trust a Muslim to put their nation above their faith.

It is also worth mentioning that, in a country such as India, which has a large number of communities with a variety of customs and traditions, expecting every Indian to follow the rituals and customs of the majority Hindu community should not become the norm. 

All these traditions deserve respect, but forcing anyone, even someone from the same community, to follow them is not a sign of a secular country.