India: cricket scandal blocks religious controversy.

In India, cricket is a national affair, more important than anything else. During the championships, much of the society stops and when India achieves success, the celebration never wants to end. Cricket has been seen as one of the few unifying factors in a country where Hindu-Muslim tensions have risen under the Hindu nationalist rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Now, however, the sport is being rocked by a scandal that in recent weeks has increased tensions and raised the tone between India’s large group of Hindus (more than a billion people) and the Muslim minority.

The main character is Wasim Jaffer, considered one of the best players in India. When he stopped being active last year, he was appointed coach of the state’s Uttarakhand cricket team. A couple of weeks ago, Wasim Jaffer left his post. He referred to “interference and bias” from the state cricket federation, reports Indian Express. Players who did not deserve it were selected, according to Wasim Jaffer, who considered his own position untenable.

Cricketförbundet i Uttarakhand it was not too late to give again. Wasim Jaffer, a Muslim, was accused of favoring Muslim players. It is said that it prevented the team from using a cheerleader when a Hindu god is mentioned and thus created a religious conflict. Wasim Jaffer is also said to have hired a Muslim religious leader. This has sparked a storm of hatred against Wasim Jaffer on social media.

Jaffer denies the accusations as “false and unfounded.” At a press conference last week, he said that Hindu and Muslim players had the same position on the team.

– If it had really been partial, they would have fired me, now I resigned myself, he said at the press conference, to which The Guardian refers.

The scandal has received enormous attention in India, it is the first time in over a hundred years that religious contradictions have surfaced in the Indian sport of cricket. In Uttarakhand state, the prime minister has now appointed an investigation.

Opposition politician blames the ruling Hindu nationalist party BJP for the uproar.

“In recent years, hatred has become so normalized that even our beloved sport of cricket has been withdrawn,” Congresswoman Rahul Gandhi wrote in a statement.

The Guardian tells famous cricket reporter Sharda Ugra that similar accusations could never hit cricket stars with Hindu religion. He is also disappointed that other well-known players have not voiced their support for Wasim Jaffer.

That cricket is not normally confused with politics is “a test of cricket’s diplomacy” with neighboring arch-nemesis Pakistan. Countries have fought three large-scale wars with each other, during periods when the situation has been tense, international cricket matches have been able to ease the blocked position. And Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who in the 1980s was the best cricketer in the world, is also respected in India for his sporting success.