‘Cricket should not bear burden of politics’: Shashi Tharoor on KKR selecting Bangladeshi player
Reacting to criticism over KKR’s selection of Bangladeshi cricketer Mustafizur Rahman, Tharoor told reporters here: “Cricket should not bear the brunt of attacks on minorities in Bangladesh. We should try to isolate some regions from others. We are reaching out to Bangladesh and urging them to do the right thing to protect and safeguard their minorities and this message needs to continue.”
“Mustafizur Rahman is a cricketer and has nothing to do with any of this. He has not been personally accused of any hate speech or condoning or defending any attack. It is absolutely unfair to confuse these two things,” he added.
He also warned against isolating neighboring countries.
“What good will it do if we become a country that isolates all our neighbors and says no one is playing with any of them? This is purely a sporting decision and we should not allow politics to interfere in this. We surround Bangladesh from three sides. We cannot isolate them. We have to play with them,” Tharoor said.
Earlier, Congress leader and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge had criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for its criticism of the IPL series and said that foreign players participated in the tournament in accordance with BCCI and IPL rules.
In a post on He also criticized the BJP leaders, citing past examples.
Kharge said, “The same BJP leaders have no problem in the following situations: India played Pakistan soon after the Pahalgam attack. IPL shifted matches to Islamic countries during COVID. IPL auctions are being held in Islamic countries. Instead of questioning franchisees, BJP minions should ask tough questions of the Home Minister as to why he allowed the ICC and BCCI to operate in this way. For the BJP, ‘nationalism’ comes out only when it suits its policies.”
