Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, and Suresh Raina are cricketing legends, but they seem to lack basic empathy. Their mockery of disabled people on Instagram is horrifying and worrying. Indians think of cricketers as national heroes—they put them on pedestals and emulate them. By ridiculing disabled people, the three cricketers may as well have declared open season on disability rights.
After India defeated Pakistan in the World Championship of Legends final, the three former cricketers shared a video where they were seen limping and holding their backs to show the physical toll taken by the matches on their bodies.
“Body ki Tauba Tauba ho Gayi in 15 days legends cricket… Every part of the body is sore. Straight competition to our brothers @vickykaushal09 @karanaujla our version of Tauba Tauba dance. What a SONG,” the caption read.
The video met significant backlash and was soon pulled down. Harbhajan apologised, but it was too little, too late. He should have known better. He’s an MP, after all.
A police complaint has been registered against the three players, but the damage is irreversible.
Merely saying “sorry” on social media cannot make thousands forget the players’ insensitivity toward disabled persons.
“I think it’s an insult to more than 10 cr disabled people of India” said Arman Ali, executive director of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP), who lodged the police complaint.
Not new to controversy
Controversies are not new for Harbhajan and Yuvraj. In 2008, Harbhajan made a racist comment, allegedly calling Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds a monkey. In 2021, Yuvraj Singh used a casteist slur against Yuzvendra Chahal.
As an avid cricket fan, I have always admired Harbhajan, Yuvraj, and Raina. They are my childhood heroes and they were part of the 2011 World Cup winning squad. No one can forget Harbhajan’s fiery spells and Yuvraj’s heroic innings. To see them embroiled in such controversies feels like a personal letdown. They must now say tauba-tauba to such juvenile activities.
Many young players consider them their idols and want to learn from them. As role models, their behaviour sets a precedent. But when they mock a section of society in this manner, they break the trust of crores of people.
These men have played under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni for a long time. They should take a leaf out of his booklet when it comes to empathy, patience, and above all, humility.
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A learning moment
The mocking video, and the fact that the cricketers’ fans found it funny, shows much work is needed to create disability awareness in schools, colleges, and even among our MPs and cricketers.
The men should know that the world of Cricket is becoming more sensitive in its approach to disability. The Indian Cricket team has had disabled players such as Washington Sundar, who played international matches for India and is hearing-impaired.
Australian cricketer Pat Cummins has a shorter middle finger on his right hand and yet, features in the top five ICC rankings for Test bowlers. This year, Sachin Tendulkar met disabled cricketer Amir Hussain and wrote an inspiring note for him.
As the disappointment lingers among fans, I see this incident as a learning moment. It is not just about three cricketers making a mistake, it is about how Indian society at large deals with disabled persons. There is a lack of respect and empathy for them.
More importantly, India needs a larger debate around creating sensitive nomenclature concerning disability. Back in 2016, when PM Narendra Modi renamed disabled persons as divyang (divine body), he believed he had attached sensitivity to the name. To many Indians, however, this too was derogatory.
On 8 July, the Supreme Court in a verdict said language that disparages persons with disabilities, marginalises them further, and supplements the disabling barriers in their social participation must be approached with caution.
It was a wake-up call reminding us that our words and actions have consequences. It is crucial to create an environment where empathy and understanding prevail and regardless of their abilities, a person is treated with the respect they deserve.
In his apology, Harbhajan seems eager to move past the episode: “Plz let’s stop this here and move forward.”
It remains to be seen if moving forward for the cricketer means sensitising himself or ignoring the incident until people move on to other conversations.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
Get real. They were not mocking the disabled. Only the English media does that, just like this writer, who sees what doesn’t exist. In reality this writer is mocking the disabled. This article needs to be reported and removed.