As several foreign influencers, including singer-actress Rihanna, former porn-star Mia Khalifa and teen protestor Greta Thunberg interfered in country’s politics by endorsing violence in the name of supporting ‘farmer’ protests, several Indian celebrities took to social media to call for unity in the nation against foreign interference in India’s affairs.
Similarly, on Wednesday, India’s sporting legend Sachin Tendulkar led the sports fraternity to condemn the global false propaganda against India. Sachin Tendulkar tweeted saying, “India’s sovereignty cannot be compromised. External forces can be spectators but not participants. Indians know India and should decide for India. Let’s remain united as a nation.”
As Sachin Tendulkar raised his voice against external forces attempting to create chaos on the country’s streets, strangely a section of social media users from Kerala descended on social media to not only mock the former cricket but also abuse him for standing up for the cause of the country.
Several social media users from Kerala ‘regreted’ over their sharp criticism and ridicule in the past directed towards Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, who had once claimed of not being aware of Sachin Tendulkar. During a press meet 7 years ago, Sharapova was asked about her opinion on Tendulkar’s presence at one of her matches, to which she had responded saying she did not know him.
Following the incident, several social media users had ridiculed, abused the tennis player for not knowing one of the greatest batsmen of the era. Ironically, it was a section of social media users from Kerala who had led the massive outrage against Sharapova back then in 2014.
Keralites mocks Sachin Tendulkar, media showcase it as a social media campaign
However, seven years later, Keralites have come forward to apologise to Sharapova for abusing her in 2014. Angered over Tendulkar’s support for the country, Keralites said ‘Sorry’ to Sharapova and expressed regret for standing in support of the cricketing legend during the controversy.
Shockingly, several media outlets, rather than condemning their actions, have published reports to indirectly praise them for confronting Sachin Tendulkar. The left-liberal media took this opportunity to glorify the act by several Malayalee social media users.
Here are the media reports that attempted to pass off the incident as just a social media incident rather than dangerous act of foul mouthing Indian icons, simply because they stood for the cause of the country amidst attempts by foreign vested interests to destabilise the country.
The Hindu:
Indian Express:
CNN News 18:
There are several other news reports that have also taken a similar line to amplify the shocking hatred spewed by the Kerala social media users against Sachin Tendulkar.
Are Communist cadres, Congress supporters and Islamic trolls behind apology campaign to Sharapova?
Amidst all the events that are currently occurring in India, tennis star Maria Sharapova took to Facebook to put out a new post. The Keralites, who seems to spend a lot of free time on the social media platform to spew venom against nationalist forces in the country, did not miss out on the opportunity.
Several social media users flooded her timeline with a series of apology claiming that they intended to regret their behaviour of abusing her back in 2013 and standing in support of Sachin Tendulkar.
As we looked into the thousands of comments posted on Sharapova’s timeline, it was clearly visible that a co-ordinated campaign was initiated to target Indian sporting icons, especially Sachin Tendulkar after he extended his support. The social media users chose Sharapova’s timeline to show their hatred towards Sachin Tendulkar.
Most of the comments on the timeline are put out by Communist workers, Congress party cadres, and many Islamic trolls from Kerala.
Here are some of the social media accounts that sought mercy from Maria Sharapova:
Communist supporters
The party cadres and supporters of the Left Democratic Front – a coalition of left parties in Kerala, were the first to mock Sachin Tendulkar. As we analysed their social media posts, it was revealed that most of them are active Communist party supporters.
Here are a few social media accounts of the LDF supporters:
Another Muslim social media user and an active worker of the LDF saying ‘Sorry’ to Maria Sharapova.
Ubaid Paroli seems to be a prominent one among them.
Ashik Ibn Haneefa referred to Sachin Tendulkar as a ‘Joker’ as he asked for forgiveness.
Not just Communists supporters, even Congress cadres were not far behind.
Congress supporters
The United Democratic Front or the UDF – a Congress-led coalition in the state, who are currently in the opposition in Kerala, seems to be competing with the Communists to impress the state’s hate-filled voters.
In fact, they were not far behind the act of apologising that has now turned into a national shame.
Here are some of the posts where Congress supporters were begging for mercy against a foreign individual, just as their party leaders do it often to stay relevant in the party.
Another Congress supporter said that Sharapova was right to say she did not know Sachin Tendulkar and added that destiny has proved right today.
Latheef Nani, another Congress supporter, claimed that Sachin Tendulkar rejected all the farmers. In reality, there was not even a single tweet put out by Sachin against farmers or for that matter farm laws. However, the Congress party workers, the champions of liberal values, have targeted Sachin Tendulkar for just expressing his opinion.
Here is another Shashi Tharoor supporter targeting Sachin Tendulkar for his posts and apologising to Sharapova. It is not tough to comprehend that is a follower of Shashi Tharoor.
Another Congress supporter seeking mercy from Maria Sharapova.
Several assorted trolls, AAP supporters also descended on Sharapova’s timeline to mock India’s greatest sport legend Sachin Tendulkar.
Aam Aadmi Party, which has no presence in Kerala, seems to have influenced one member. Interestingly, for AAP’s benefit, even he has turned out to be hateful as many of its party workers.
A large section of hatred for Sachin Tendulkar came from Islamic social media accounts, who did not hesitate at all to make denigrating comments against Sachin Tendulkar as they sought an apology from Maria Sharapova for insulting her in 2014.
From the above tweets, one can confer that a large section of Kerala social media users was not impressed with Indian sports heroes standing up for what is right – to stand in the country’s cause and protect its interests. It is rather shocking to realise that several Indians are ready to let go of their self-respect if it suited their narrow political narrative.
