Imagine if the Pakistani cricket team beats India and its players wave their bats as if they were the swords of Ghazni or Babar. Or if the English players flaunt themselves as Dalhousie’s Boys. Or if the players of Sri Lankan team enter the ground after a victory as Ravana’s ten heads. How are Indians going to react? With something like ‘my sentiments have been hurt’? We will outrage to no end.
And perhaps rightly so.
Such acts are offensive. They hurt public sentiments. And Ravindra Jadeja should know that. The Indian cricketer, famous for his fielding on the cricket ground but also popular for the bat swirl after scoring a half-century or a century, leaves little room for doubt about his identity — not of an Indian, not of a cricketer, not even of a sensible adult, but his big, all-encompassing identity: caste.
Also read: You clapped for them as they picked garbage. Respect them and Ambedkar would clap for you
Caste matters
If you have seen Ravindra Jadeja off the cricketing field, came across his videos on social media or read his interviews, then you know he is a Rajput. But just in case you don’t, Jadeja has you covered. He recently uploaded on Twitter a 17-second clip of himself swinging a sword as a Bahubali song plays in the background. The cricketer desperately tried to match the caption of the tweet with his angry facial expressions: “A “SWORD” MAY LOOSE IT’S SHINE,BUT WOULD NEVER DISOBEY IT’S MASTER #rajputboy”.
A “SWORD” MAY LOOSE IT’S SHINE,BUT WOULD NEVER DISOBEY IT’S MASTER #rajputboy pic.twitter.com/kKyKQ9vSWk
— Ravindrasinh jadeja (@imjadeja) April 12, 2020
Ravindra Jadeja’s hashtag ‘Rajput boy’ is offensive and hurts the sentiments of every Indian who is working to improve the lives of those discriminated against on the basis of caste and end this culture.
Jadeja’s act also demeans the culture of sports, of which he is an ambassador and therefore knows that players are honoured for their skill and not for their caste. Should Sachin Tendulkar, a brahmin, now wield his bat to show the wrath of Parashurama, an avatar of Hindu god Vishnu, who is believed to have wiped out Kshatriyas 21 times from the earth? In a casteist society like ours, these things can take ugly turns, triggering a competitive show of caste valour, which is why public figures are not known to engage with their followers in such ways on common platforms.
Also read: Ambedkar’s fight wasn’t just against caste. Scholars have overlooked his labour activism
Whose bravery?
Ravindra Jadeja forgets that the Rajputana bravery that he seems so obsessed with were individual acts of soldiers and kings. It is not because of his caste that the valour of Maharana Pratap is celebrated. Nor it is because of caste that the legends of Lorik, Lachit Borfukan, Tanhaji are sung to this date. The monkey god Hanuman was not considered brave because he was a monkey. Similarly, India’s freedom fighters such as M.K. Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru, B.R. Ambedkar did not succeed because of their castes. It was their individual acts that mattered.
Sword wielding can be a form of sport, such as fencing, and people belonging to any caste can learn the skill. But Jadeja is not wielding a sword to promote fencing. His sword is an invocation of the valour of Rajputana kings, and Jadeja is merely lumping himself among them like those good-for-nothing people who project someone else’s achievement as their own by simply pointing out their caste association. What is Ravindra Jadeja’s contribution to the Rajputana valour other than swinging a sword like he does his cricket bat or riding a horse?
Also read: Indians vote on caste, religion because they lack information on MP, MLA performance: Study
Habitual offender
By identifying himself as a ‘Rajput boy’, Jadeja is insulting the cricketing fraternity, which is still struggling to address racism. And Jadeja’s open, regular display of caste pride doesn’t help the cause because it is not much different to race pride. Earlier, he has worn shoes to a match with ‘Rajput’ inscribed on them.
Cricketers K.L. Rahul and Hardik Pandya were reprimanded and made to face disciplinary action for their ‘loose talk’ about women at a talk show — Karan Johar’s Koffee With Karan. There is no reason why Ravindra Jadeja’s casteist acts should be allowed to flourish. He is not a local goon who roams around the streets with ‘Jat Boy’ or ‘Rajput Boy’ or ‘Yadav ke Chhore’ written on his vehicle.
In The Kapil Sharma Show, cricketer Virat Kohli has spoken about Jadeja’s eccentricities such as believing the world would collapse one day when the two buildings moving closer to each other in his home town Jamnagar finally touch each other. Kohli, who was describing the oddities of someone he believes ‘boasts’ the most in the Indian cricket team, also revealed that Jadeja thinks a horse on a king’s portrait changes its stance every year.
There’s something to be said about a popular Indian figure flaunting his caste identity in a society that has forever struggled to even properly acknowledge everyday caste-based atrocities, including killings, let alone do much to end a system that actively promotes a hierarchical structure. That Jadeja’s clip was being lapped up by more than a lakh people on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti shows how far we stand from realising B.R. Ambedkar’s dream of a casteless society.
Views are personal.
He is rajput and me too… And
No one have right to ask us what we r doing.. ?
If u really think about equality then why others have reservation and we don’t??
Either it should be no reservation orr we should have these rights…
Don’t mind the sword whirling as long as he can out his money where his mouth is. So far he has failed to finish even a single run chase. The so called Rajput boy can’t even whirl his bat and take his team home when the team needs him to bat selflessly at an strikerate of 150+. Comes at 7 in ODIs and t20s scores just above run a ball for his country and calls himself a rajput after taking a catch and bowling safe for 10 overs trying not to get hit over the fence. Such is his bravery that in his entire carrier of 10 long years he hasn’t been able to finish 10 matches with bat and has even miserable record in tests matches abroad. All hail to pseudorajputs……
Then why the hell do you hail Allah and say la illahu illallah when you didn’t even contribute 0.0001%to Islam…why are you people (anti Indians) always try to tarnish the image of people who take pride in their culture?? When pakistani players offer namaz after winning a match on the ground itself and say inshallah boys played well… And why do you chop of your moustache and keep only beard??? Why do you want to reveal your identity?? You say jadeja isn’t a good player…The test no. 2 all rounder and in top ten of Icc test rankings… Still have a doubt???
Very hopeless writer who can think in this way.
There is nothing wrong with Jadeja doing sword fight with his bat. It is nothing different from any celebration that other cricketers do. It is a skill that is native to Indian culture and he is displaying his skills.
But identifying himself by a caste is wrong. We cannot attribute a skill to caste. Infact your article is wrong in associating sword fight with caste as if other than Rajputs none know to swing a sword.
He can express his own feelings , how dare you challenge anyone’s feelings in this country ? This is what the view of Ambedkar saheb. You people want to create unnecessary controversy. very cheap writer.No level at all. American presidents go regularly for outing. So what is your opinion, can’t he go. Change your attitude and develop your mind first
This is the problem of our nation we are too proud of our culture and so called exalted heritage and heroes but more than that the burning issue that should haunt us should be development and poverty alleviation you go to Kerala no one boasts about culture and invokes the names of past Kings and heroes there is just a working culture and a mission to ensure good health and poverty alleviation even in this covid season
Jb mahabharata ke baad shree krishna ke sbhi vansaj aur shree krishna ki durbhagyapurna dehant ho gya tha, toh ahir shree krishna ke vansaj kaise hue?
We should focus on hashtag and things written on shoes as writer mentioned. Wring Jadeja is not offensive on shoes or hashtag but community name can be. Does Jadeja thinks he is above other cricketers heroics like viv Richard’s or Lara. Or even joginder Sharma. He is not even 2 meter close to Status of dhoni or javagal srinath . A common boy got good financial status and now making influence in his local community and may be eying on political future. But as long as he is representing Indian team he should not try to individualize. As there is too much competition for even him to be in playing eleven. He is not a match winner and how we can expect him to win wars for india in battlefield with his primitive armaments and horses. He may betray us in war to be on winning side. Moreover he is a village guy,he even married a girl from his relatives and not from anywhere else from india to make india United regardless of regions or dialects or cuisines. He is very narrow minded in today’s India. Or he is not able to mix with other people that is upbringing.
Sad part is this entire article was written on a simple hashtag. And god knows how many comments followed after that. If you’re up against castes then the first thing we need to do is stop seeing it in every little detail. If he’s a Rajput, he’s proud of his heritage more than his caste. And so does everybody else should be. Regardless where you come from.
Why the hell on this earth, you started believing Rabindra Jadeja’s actions out-preach his belongingness towards his Caste. Different players have different ways of celebrating their victories and off-couse you cannot draw a conclusion out of it. In dressing room players do share many funny jokes so is Jadega. What’s wrong in it? Sound strange to me that he never admire his caste or religion but you performed the end to end analysis and repeated word ‘Caste’ multiple times in your post. Be mature my friend.
Why the hell on this earth, you started believing Rabindra Jadeja’s actions out-preach his belongingness towards his Caste. Different players have different ways of celebrating their victories and off-couse you cannot draw a conclusion out of it. In dressing room players do share many funny jokes so is Jadega. What’s wrong in it? Sound strange to me that he never admire his caste or religion but you performed the end to end analysis and repeated word ‘Caste’ multiple times in your post. Be mature my friend. If you start drawing conclusions this way what have you say about West Indies players, Australian players, South African players specially Andre Nel and off-couse Sree Shant. Human beings are not Robot that they are going to act the same way in similar situations. Hope it make sense.
Why the hell on this earth, you started believing Rabindra Jadeja’s actions out-preach his belongingness towards his Caste. Different players have different ways of celebrating their victories and off-couse you cannot draw a conclusion out of it. In dressing room players do share many funny jokes so is Jadega. What’s wrong in it? Sound strange to me that he never admire his caste or religion but you performed the end to end analysis and repeated word ‘Caste’ multiple times in your post. Be mature my friend. If you start drawing conclusions this way what have you say about West Indies players, Australian players, South African players specially Andre Nel and off-couse Sree Shant. Human beings are not Robot that they are going to act the same way in similar situations. Hope it make sense.
Dont drag a fun loving cricketer into thos nonsense. Promoting his caste is none of Jaddu’s concern. Sword fencing is his hobby..let him do what he loves to do. Wrong things are within your head, so you think that way.
What is this this article doesn’t even make any sense
What an ugly article. Looks like the writer has no sense or he doesn’t have anything to write so he decides to write a controversial article. Actually trying to create a controversy out of nowhere just to get some publicity. Why not u write an article on Sheldon Cottrell of WI for his salute celebration? By d way Rajpoot is not casteism, they are known as warriors, anyone who fights war is a warrior, is a Rajpoot. By swirling swords Jadeja just lets everyone know that he is a warrior. Jadeja making his country proud and u just want to defame him by writing filthy things. Who are you my dear? What have u done for the country? Your Talibani thoughts are false. Well, We all know that The print is from left media and they never feel good about Rights. By writing these things you want to hurt sentiments of Rights that’s for sure and you want to defame Hinduism.
Worst of all time article try to grow up and find some other topics , shame on you .
Are you mad? If a person has any talent then he can definitely show it . Every player has his style . Virat Kohli shows his aggressive nature on field after a great knock, similarly sir Jadeja shows his skill and his hobby too, on or off the field . But people like you, who cannot digest it, are discriminating and finding casteism out of this art . Just stop your nuisance.
Actually these self proclaimed secular live on another planet ,they think that they are the only people who are full of knowledge. They criticise every one but they themselves do all these non sense things. They drink alcohol talk about liquor ban, they eat leg piece chicken but join PETA and compaign to protect animals, they live in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai in a air conditioning building and talk about plight of tribals of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Actually now people know who they are.
If Jadeja is wrong for expressing his Caste association then it is also wrong in case of all Dalits of our country who is taking pride in Dr. Ambedkar’s individual achievement by relating their Caste association with Him.
I he respects all then what’s your problem you guys don’t write on people like owaisi who say we ruled for 800 years police hatao what problem do u have , and if rajputs fought for the country why shouldn’t they show their pride and even those who didn’t do much still rule parties like that of one which ruled India for 70 years
It’s a shame that you call yourself a journalist. It’s because of people like you India is still divided into castes because you make it a subject and spread hoax.
Nothing wrong. The man has a skill in yielding a sword and he is showing off. You the author have skills in writing and you are showing off. Same thing. dont use the caste card its boring.
There is nothing offensive, what so ever, in being proud of ones clan, tribe, community, region and nation, as long as you dont denigrate others. Rajputs have had a history of chivalry and bravery, which shall find no parallels.
If he will stop waving his bat as sword then there will not be appearance of caste on school tc and every people of society would be getting reservation on the basis of economical backward classes as a sake of humanity ?
Print, how low will you sink is the question – How low is too low? Would you write something about people saying proud muslims?! No! Just another stupid news channel.
Blown out of proportion, pls stop writing and making storm in the cup
There is not problem when someone shows pride of his/her community. Even there are many processions on road on Ambedkar Jayanti, coz Ambedkar is pride for them! So there is nothing harm in it. If someone’s display of pride hurts you it means you feel yourself to be inferior. When you kill the feeling of inferiority within yourself, nobody’s display of community pride can offend you. I am not trying to defend Ravindra here, neither I belong to Kshatriya or Brahmin clan, but it’s just a suggestion. Coz no matter where you go around the world, there will be people with some kind “holier than thou” attitude. So chill. Swirling of sword doesn’t makes anyone inferior!
JYOTI YADAV types fake jernos have ruined the credibility of ThePrint. I can also say that JYOTI should stop being a YADAV and should grow up as a jerno. But NO. JYOTI YADAV types fake jerno’s job is driving paid agendas. They can be anything but jernos.
Next time Irfan Pathan brings his wife outside in veil.
Ask him to be more cricketer and less muslim.
I respect that person though.
..
It’s HinduPhobia,
Sickularism
What The Hell Is wrong With This article. Even Japanese baseball Player waves Katana doesn’t mean They Will serve Gangis Kha n delete This article i suggest You
You are attacking his/her identity..!
..
Can we ask the same for Sikhs to stop wearing Kripan.
Or
A Muslim to stop wearing his white topi…?
This liberalism now has to stop.
If you think Ravindra Jadeja tweeting #rajputboy is any offence according to ‘The Constitution of India’,you can complaint to police. If you respect the constitution, then Ravindra Jadeja tweeting that he is a son of Rajput is nothing offensive and constitution has given freedom of speech to everyone in the country.If you are a real secular,then you should question the government that why they ask to mention the religion in birth certificate and to write competitive exams,why they ask caste and religion to students
Articles should also be written on someone who says proud to be muslim…ambedkar didn’t amended the word secular in indian constitution which later congress added….amedkar never believe india to be a secular…so write article on that too…this is the worst post i ever read in my entire life till now…
First tell your country Pakistan people to stop saying insha’Allah in every insta post or every time they are being made to talk in mic
You see your country we ll see ours
Grow up PRINT. Find better content. By the way when are you printing article about Pakistani cricketers doing Namaz on cricket pitch/ground during live match
I don’t think there is anything wrong about what he said and what he does or done.Some people are lacking in what to report.
He is flaunting coz he is a rajput.. You better mind your own deeds… I understand you can boast shit about anybody coz that’s your job. This is the way how you earn. Bt try to post some legit stuff..
The article writer is self having a castist mindset. She appears to have a very shallow knowledge of our society and culture. Why she is writing yadav with her name. To get benifis show and declare yourself as dalit and obc but to take pride in being a Rajpoot or bramhin is crime what kind of these people are.
Worst article I ever read….
Ravindra Jadeja did nothing to offend any community. But you disrespected entire Rajput community with this article.
Linking Jadejas video with Ambedkar Jayanti and then exaggerating so long on caste……suggest writer should find some interesting topics and not waste time like this…….includes readers time as well.
@Jyoti Yadav or whosoever contributed in this opinion:
If you want India to be a caste-less society then you, Govt. of India and all Indians need to do following things:
1. First of all remove your Family Name “Yadav” from your name as it identifies caste in a similar way “Ravindra Jadeja” is identifying himself as a Rajput. Similarly, I recently found actor Randeep Hooda flaunting his “Jat” caste on a first time heard “International Jat Day”.
2. Second, end the reservation based on Caste and start it for a limited period (~15 years) on Economical status of a family so that one generation comes out of poverty and rest generations then compete with others as unreserved individuals.
3. Third, advocate a Universal Civil Code in India where there is no difference law for any religion or any caste in India.
4. Fourth, ban all religious teachings and spiritual teachings be it Muslim teachings in Madrasas, Mosques, Sikh teachings in Gurudwaras, Hindu teachings in Temples, Shrines, Gurukuls, Christian teachings through different Religious organizations etc. as the scriptures talk about different roles and different varna/castes in the Society and its universal in almost all religions.
5. Fifth, ban historical texts to be taught in India because when kids or anyone reads Indian mythology, they find Kshatriyas as the most powerful social group and when they read medieval history, they find Rajputs and Marathas as the most powerful social groups. So, history is filled with heroic sagas of sacrifices of those Rajput and Maratha Heroes, which is not easy to ignore. So, its better to ban historical teachings.
6. Moreover, if you, along with Indian Govt. or Citizens supporting you, are successful do the above changes in the Indian Social system, then please do one last thing to ban religion from India and make one universal religion named “Indianism”.
I think, there is no other remedy of your problem to cope up with the Indian social system. Or else, there is an escape route many other Indians like you are taking which is to fly abroad and settle there permanently because neither they can change the Indian society and nor they can learn to live or adjust with this society. This is how it is. So, it is up to you and to all of us Indians to choose what to do.
I do not intend to hurt any sentiments . I am expressing my thoughts on this issue that you’ve raised as I also have freedom of expression.
I hope its worth the effort. Take Care.
When lower castes take reservation then they should accept that they belong to lower caste thatswhy they are taking reservations. In present scenario office of high rank are mostly aquared by lower caste person so we upper caste can atleast praise ourselves that we belong to upper caste thatswhy not getting job, every person Cary their caste aur family background tradition. It is his talent, just showing the sword doesn’t show caste distinction but in reality it’s reservation which show distinction and says lower caste doesn’t have power to face upper caste without added benefit. So, I kindly request you to right article on need of reservation not on pointing someone’s . You don’t have skill to Play with sword I think that’s why you are jealous of him .
Jat boy, Yadav k choore but wait where is Miya bhai?
When lower castes take reservation then they should accept that they belong to lower caste thatswhy they are taking reservations. In present scenario office of high rank are mostly aquared by lower caste person so we upper caste can atleast praise ourselves that we belong to upper caste thatswhy not getting job, every person Cary their caste aur family background tradition. It is his talent, just showing the sword doesn’t show caste distinction but in reality it’s reservation which show distinction and says lower caste doesn’t have power to face upper caste without added benefit. So, I kindly request you to right article on need of reservation not on pointing someone’s talent. You don’t have skill to Play with sword I think that’s why you are jealous of him .
When Stones pelted by your favourite community at Doctors.
PRINT/WIRE: Contributing stones to build nation.
The print should be named as The Shit . Are you mulla ordering fatwa…stop ordering ppl what to do
Oh bhai mari mujhe maro……..assa ghatiya article…..bewakoofon….nirbuddhi..???????
The Print you are always a biased piece of shit at these hard times you have nothing good or analytical that one can learn from it to show in an article.
Gandhi didn’t support Ambedkar on Casteless Society (Check Poona Pact). Gandhi and Nehru were against Ambedkar because he was a dalit that’s why Ambedkar said in an interview with BBC that Gandhi was double dealing and he is a agent of British. Ambedkar hated Communists. Commies are now showing their fake love for Ambedkar. The kshatriyas (Rajputs) who lost war were casted out of the kingdom and they use to eat cows because no one would give them food and that’s how dalits caste was formed. British used this to their advantage to divide Indians to rule and congress and commies follows same formula. Commies say that they are atheists but they fully support Jihadis and Christian Missionaries. This article is just their propaganda to target Hindu community using caste and Ambedkar. Grow up Jyothi Yadav, not going to fall for your commie tricks anymore.