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.
You guys are so full of shit.
Ever heard about freedom of speech and freedom of expression??
Now,
Get your filthy swine face back to the Porkistani gutter it came from.
Teri kyu jal gayi …
Worst post ever
If u want to abolish caste system 1 St abolish caste based reservation fool.
U want every thing for free …I am totally against this post of urs
we general category are not given anything by govt…..u take everything for free….if u continue to do so…u will surely always continue to face discrimination.
Kis kis ko Chup karwaoge. Maximum comment in support of Jadega. The author, of course, does not like her job or else how can someone produce such full of shit article.
Sick writer
Worst Article
Shame The Print shame
Get well soon
Worst article by print how can they allow this article to be published,If Jadeja is proud of his ancestory ,Why this is mattern on concern of anybody ,Did hi say anything derogatory to anybody,On the contrary this article is raciest and against the eros of our nation ,Pathetic!
please jyoti yadav ko gaali mat do, wo to apni naukri kar rahi hai, usne bola bhi hoga ye kya bakchodi hai bas aur kya
what u think about a person who wears blue dress.what it means when a person chants jai bhim jai mim.u are just a asshole who only sees fault in any ones act.u have no right to cricise jadeja…..its his choice to keep horse show swords.it is his personal belief .
Right
Bohot hi ghatiya article likha ye… Jisne bhi likha. Apna dimaag ko rest do. Har jagah galat hi kyou dikhta hai ?
Did this worthless piece with messed up brains just try to tell Jadeja what being an Indian is?
This behavior is typical of a social parasitic leech who becomes all plump by feeding off the reflected glory of a self made man. That man is not only an achiever but also a citizen with a right to celebrate his individuality in his chosen unique way.
Whatever the past might have been of his ancestors, it is only deplorable to even associate that with the swinging of sword…afterall this act is pure celebratory.
In an attempt of becoming a toast of Lutyens, this author has instead ended up becoming the roast of the nation.
I couldnt help but realise how much poison u have in ur mind that snakes might have to borrow from u. Just because India is democratic and u have freedom of speech, it doesnt imply u will spout nonsense on any topic.
If u have such stupid opinions, then sunn meri baat, its my choice to write such response to u exercising my freedom of speech.
P.S: I would be eagerly waiting for a similar article on Islam from u. That shows how selective ur journalism is.
Then where the hell were you when muslims say la illahu illallah..why are you people (anti Indians) always try to tarnish the image of people who take pride in their culture?? Where were you when pakistani players offer namaz after winning a match on the ground itself and when indian muslims say inshallah in each sentence they use…..where were you when your so called secular people spred virus?? And why do muslims chop of their moustache and keep only beard??? Why do they want to reveal their identity??did you say anything about it?? 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??? Then according to your logic no dalit should take pride in what Ambedkar has done to the society and no muslims shud be proud of their prophet and yes!! You should also not take pride in what your father or mother has done to you.. Such baseless argument!!
This opinion is utterly judgemental, misinterpreted and has hidden agenda. The writer, the editor and the whole print should be ashamed of. Stopping low is your habit. And nobody can change that. Presstitute, indeed you are
This opinion is utterly judgemental, misinterpreted and has hidden agenda. The writer, the editor and the whole print should be ashamed of. Stopping low is your habit. And nobody can change that.
So the comments against his bat swirling are not casteist. Shitty article. This discrimination thing has gone too far. The author needs to introspect.
Look at his hairs
He does not even have the money to get a good hair cut
??. Beta ji Apki 7 pushto ko ek baari Mein kharid le…. Ravindra Singh Jadeja naam h unka ……. लोगों को नमक स्वाद अनुसार और बोलना औकात अनुसार चाहिए….. ??
Kya baat h
ये स्टोरी राईटर जेसे लोग ही देश में जातीयवाद फेलाते हे और सेक्युलरिज्म का पर्दा ओढ़ते है। अगर कोई कहता है कि में राजपूत हूं तो वह गलत कैसे हो गया ? कोई अपनी कास्ट पर खुश हो वह बुरा केसे हो गया? ना तो उसने किसी कि जाती , धर्म को बुरा कहा ना तो गली दी #rajputboy लिख दिया तो वह जाती भेद करने वाला हो गया?
फिर तो आप कहोगे जय भीम , जय श्री राम ,कहना भी जाती वाद है । और जो स्कूल की फॉर्म में राजपूत / हिन्दू / ब्राह्मण / बौद्ध / मुस्लिम लिखते है वह भी जाती वाद करते है। आप की इस लेख से तो यह प्रतीत होता है कि आप क्षत्रिय समाज और बौद्ध समाज में तेढ़ निर्माण करना चाहते है।
Print is known to oppose Indian culture and heritage, its no surprise. Grow Up print
And for the record, he is a top top cricketer!! And for the author, stop looking everything in caste n religious angle. If you weren’t hypocrite, your name would have been just Jyoti.
P.S. I haven’t read the article, headline was enough to judge what kind of negative article this would be.
The level of negativity which we are facing since modi second tenure is crossing its level. People are really bringing such lame issues which are like never existed. I hope you live in Kerala. But, here is Delhi, UP people are made to look with such a way. How will people move ahead.? we want to move ahead of caste sim but such article bring so much negativity which creates hate it is continued till it gets toxic. situation are really worse. people have lost common sense.
Seeing so many comments, hopefully by now you must have understood is not easy anymore to fool people in the name of caste. The country has awakened and for good. Days are over for your master’s cast and relegion based politics.As for the Rajput Boy comment, it’s his personal freedom what he calls himself. And why not his ancestors have left him this legacy to be proud upon. Rajput is not just a caste, it’s the attitude. People like you who would write anything just for fulfilling their akaa’s propaganda wouldn’t understand it. STOP writing this kind of crap.
When a muslim says he is proud muslim does that mean he is doing that cos of gajni and gauri, comparing him with invedors like dalhauji, gajni and ravan shows your seculer journalism.
He is not being proud of attacking or invading other countries he is proud of defending islamisation of india.
And by the way you should know gajni and gauri were afgans not Pakistani
What a intellectual journalist you are ?
Wow… Then the author would be glad that a fellow OBC has become the PM of India with thumping majority twice. The Nehruvian janeudhaari elites demolished by OBC poor man from Gujarat. I know… I KNOW… poor comrade filled with hate cant acknowledge this ‘social victory’.
I am Rajput….we feel proud….jish ko saram aati ho apni caste par.. caste certificate bhi na lena or dikhana
RajputBoy is offensive? Wow, that’s the stupidest argument I’ve heard in a long time. By that logic, any association with one’s traditions or history must be offensive to you? Why don’t you drop your surname then Ms. Yadav? You are flaunting your caste and we need a casteless society right? You are hurting public sentiments…Madam, grow a brain for God’s sake, we need a discrimination-less society, not so much a casteless one.
So I wonder would it all appear so offensive to ther writer if Jadeja was not a Rajput???
I ser nothing hugely wrong with flaunting and be proud of one’s heritage… I am sure there are more offensive things you worry about!!
This is too much. Pretty sure he wouldn’t have given this side of the picture even a accidental shot. Good, that “the views are personal” was mentioned before hand. This is just too woke. At this time of distress, we must search for the intended and positives and not dig nonsensically deep and fuel our opinions.
Why should he criticise Sachin drinking and Rohit’s eating meat? This article about Ravindra is not about if he is following the caste rules or not, it is about flaunting the caste. I think you are missing the point here. And, Hindustan is not a caste. (facepalm..rip logic)
The word “Caste” was introduced to India by the British. Rajput is one of the many Indian tribes. And every tribe on the planet must be proud of themselves. Nothing wrong in self pride.
Can you chose to flex your neuronal cells (think beyond archaich British Raj perspective about India? )
First become successful like him and than write such articles. YOU as a person don’t have your own identity and trying to defame others.
To see something in terms of caste when the entire world was seeing it as a sport justifies your stupidity in this article.
Also shows you have no work at this time.
PRINT IS PATHETIC.
So according to print Ravindra Jadej is pomoting castesism. I may point out to the people we have already reached the time in India where people are openly attacked for based on their religion and doing almost anything which has nothing to do with others.
But According to THE PRINT these below mentioned people are noble citizens of SECULAR India…
“Certain People” openly hate India and speak they do not follow the constitution but their BOOK.
“Certain People” promote burqa, IT EMPOWERS WOMEN.
“Certain People” hope to kill people of all other religion. Hope them to be infected with the virus and they are being merciful and uplifting our society as per THE PRINT.
These “Certain People” spit on the doctors, throw stones on the Plolice but as per PRINT they are promoting their Religion, as they are not promoting RACISM and CASTEISM or HATRED, it’s pure LOVE .
The “Certain People” are labeled “Single Source” etc etc WHY?
Man David fulton is defending the writer like he is the one who wrote it.
He is proud of his ancestors who did the most to protect the country from total annihilation by the islamic barbarians. Only a sick mind like yours will see a caste in it. As for his accomplishments, he plays for India at the highest level, which takes real talent. What about you, a half wit who parrots lefty drivel and sucks up to your lefty friends to get a gig at The Print to write juvenile tripe? You, madam, are nothing.
Hi, I m not purposely writing my full name is coz mera bhi cast nikal dega writer. N yes lots of businessman has invested in your company to write actual news NOT TO MAKE NEWS. Please grow up and report on more important things. Its his personal choice to swirl bat and he has been doing for maybe past 2 to 3 years no one has taken offence coz he swirl bat in indian dressing room. You may have written celebration of a Imran Tahir. That is both abusive n insulting but coz he is Muslim Print won’t write.
And yes views are my personal.
We can feel ur pain liberandu.. But you know what!!! It’s those Rajputs who fought bravely to ur so called mughals and turned their nights into nightmares. Just stop this nonsense.. Jai Hind.. Jai ShreeRam
If you don’t know than plz don’t write article about any cast Brahmin or Rajput these two are best frds from old times and jaddu only write Rajput boy he didn’t discuss or write about cast he is Rajput boy I support to jadeja ..
Bapu
what an asinine article.Every one should be free to celebrate whatever their identity
is.Celebrating your identity does not mean you are diminishing others identity.I have
many Sikh friends ho proudly proclaim their Sardar identity at any opportunity and
no one ever feels offended.Every year the Irish on St.Patricks Day wherever they are
go over the top celebrating their Irishness and everyone parties along.
This sort of article is from the school of hyper ventilating ,offence taking,virtue signalling,
attention seeking school of journalism,which could better be classified as TDQRTGU (Teenage Drama Queens Refusing to Grow Up)
What a shit article man. Just because people are bored during the qurantine means they’ll write anything? The angle you’re trying to spin is stupid and dumb. Please try and be productive instead of being stupid and communal.
Casteism will never end. Hope people belonging to other caste boycott this “Malnutrition” Rajput boy.
This casteist is wearing ” blue” short, amazing.
Hello. He is not being casteist just displaying pride in his cultural heritage…caste is only a small part of this…we all share our blood (gentic) and Indic heritage, all Indians! Your ancestors deserted this cultural heritage and adopted an alien faith… which plays lip service to equality and peace…but is actually monomaniacal and supremacist, claiming an onus on the only God and only way… Try learn more about Indic civilization instead of smearing your blood brothers and sisters
Talks the person who just on the basis of color of shorts judge people. The casteism is alive because in your small mind you are the prisoners of past. He never said anything derogatory to any caste.
Everyone is talking about the caste in someway or the other. What happened if jadeja did the same. This culture will stop only if caste is eliminated from every where and we just see people of India otherwise it will keep on going .
I can only request Jyoti to pay heed to my advice to her – of referring every article she writes to Shekhar and publish it only when he says so without any hesitation and not under the duress of being a nice democratic guy. Why she is suddenly picking on Jedeja out of nowhere is not clear and why is she reaching such outlandish conclusions? Is it because she can’t now pick on Modi as everyone all over the world is all praise for him and appreciative of his handling of the cornona pandemic ? Even that HCQ export to USA after a dire warning by Trump turned out to be a damp squib in a matter of a day! Jyoti should quarantine herself from writing any article for a few weeks. Once economy restarts, she will have many stories to write against Modi, Sitharaman etc. Keep your powder dry for that time post 3rd May!
Hey Jyoti YADAV ,
Your last name offends me please stop being YADAV ka chorre yourself first then show the rest of the world your hypocritical view on how people should celebrate their half century or century while playing for India . I think you have difficulty in concentrating what they are doing , maybe we need to put you in a concentration camp or something so that you can focus better
Why does Jadeja wielding a Sword and taking pride on his Rajput Background trouble you so much that you have to write a full article on him filled with apparent personal grievances, personal attacks, non sensical accusations and outrageous comparisons. And please elaborate how him calling himself a Rajput can be offensive to anyone but frustrated Leftists and communists with little or no achievement.
Then, according to you wearing hijab by women contenders in international tournament should also be banned.
The topic was a serious one. But when the author itself have the surname “YADAV” carrying with him keeps everyone reminded that he belongs to YADAV. As long as these kinda representions of caste there, the sense of caste of the other person won’t be wiped out. It remains in the air.
The author should have changed his surname before he made this lecture.
This is the most rubbish article written in the history of press.
Ok you right. You are either wasting time or maybe gaining some popularity .I belongs to tribal community.there are major problems which are happing in India on the bases of casteism. You should cover that things. Instead of covering the tweets of some famous people to gain popularity. You should cover many major issues like why lower cast people are denied of their basic needs. Why their is no facilities for our people like education, clean drinking water, electricity, roads , food, etc . Why we are prohibited from some major temples and institutions and many more.
The author of this has named a caste name at the end of her name and wrote all this shit…
Hippocratic enough ???
He is proud of what he is. He did not speak against any other castes or showed anyone in poor light. This article and some tweets has blown this out of proportion. If you go by this logic , even putting your name would be a subject of criticism depending on your name that may indicate your religion or caste. So please stop this. This is going to further divide the community. After all even he has rights to express himself and in this case he did not hurt anyone’s sentiments.
So do we want an equitable society without any identity of a society?
Theoretically sounds utopian, no religious identity of any kind, no caste, everyone’s following law of the land and we all are driven by only human values which are universal…
but come to think of it… Its also scrapping away all social customs that are inherent to a society.. To me the whole point of equitable society is that no crimes are done against anyone and everyone has equal rights and is respected by all. But individual identities is what makes thing exciting, the custom and rituals of the past generation is preserved by the people who still follow them … there are some bad and some good customs around us ( tand hats debatable ) but that’s how it is…
but why is there so much hue and cry until he is not using his societal identity to bully or spread hate crime . Its just Self boosting and it envokes pride, confidence and courage. Try doing that may be you’ll feel it too…
I wonder if these opnion writers can ever be impartial or objective. Even if they are not, I would still consider it a valuable read sometimes. But when the contempt of the author for her subject comes through, it just feels like a hit piece then there is no place for any valuable dialogue
I am not a Hindu, I am a Buddhist so it doesn’t make any odds to me whether Jadega is a casteist or not. But, a lot of you reading this article may not know about the author, Jyoti Yadav, who is a serial liar, and it seems to be a biased journalist. I have read another article which she had written which was purely fictional and concocted. I read ThePrint because of Neelam Pandey and a few other journalists whom I do prefer reading their articles. To be candid, watching Dhinchak Puja’s song is far better than reading Jyoti Yadav’s article. No Offence. If a journalist can give their own view, then I as a reader, I too put forth my own view.
The writer is a stupid hater nothing else . What a cheap level of IQ
Shame on you The Print