Cricket
Sourav Ganguly fails to stand beside daughter Sana at time of crisis
Former India cricket captain and the current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly’s daughter Sana Ganguly posted an Instagram story from her verified handle on Wednesday which strongly opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The 18-year-old quoted the words of writer-historian Khushwant Singh’s work of non-fiction, The End of India (2003), to underline her dissent. The post was later taken down. Late night, Sourav tweeted to say that the post was “not true”.
“Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonise in order to thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there. A movement built on hate can only sustain itself by continually creating fear and strife,” posted Sana, a trained Odissi dancer like her mother Dona. She has over 68,000 followers on Instagram.
“Those of us today who feel secure because we are not Muslims or Christians are living in a fool’s paradise. The Sangh is already targeting the Leftist historians and “Westernised” youth. Tomorrow it will turn its hate on women who wear skirts, people who eat meat, drink liquor, watch foreign films, don’t go on annual pilgrimages to temples, use toothpaste instead of danth manjan, prefer allopathic doctors to vaids, kiss or shake hands in greeting instead of shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. No one is safe. We must realise this if we hope to keep India alive,” Sana’s Instagram story read.
Sana’s Instagram post became an instant hit on Twitter, with many people posting its screenshot. Former finance minister P Chidambaram’s son, Karti, posted her screenshot with the words, “Bravo Sana Ganguly”.
While India is witnessing nation-wide protests on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, the people of Twitter and other social media platforms have called out celebrities and people with the power to influence for observing silence.
“The best thing about this generation is, they don’t fear! They will express their ideas and emotions without fear of power, muscle and social pressure. Kudos Sana Ganguly for this moving post. Many people who were silent for last 5-6 years are finally speaking up. #CAA_NRC,” wrote another user Parikshit Shah, who goes by the handle @imparixit.
However, Sourav Ganguly came out for damage control and termed Sana's alleged Instagram post related to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as 'not true'.Ganguly also said that his daughter is too young to know anything about politics and she should be left alone. Around 10.15pm, Sourav took to Twitter to claim that the post was “not true.” “Please keep Sana out of all these issues .. this post is not true .. she is too young a girl to know about anything in politics,” he tweeted.
As soon as Sourav tweeted, social media saw an uproar who came down in support of Sana. His tweet garnered several shares nearly 10k likes by 11.30PM, with people both supporting and criticising him for his “clarification”.
Filmmaker Onir said, “Sad, instead of being a proud father you are being a Shame. Your silence is bad enough.
Aakash Chopra and Irfan Pathan are the only star cricketers who took a stand in support of the protesting students while cricketers like Virender Sehwag, who is also a Jamia alumnus and usually active on Twitter, have remained silent.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by Parliament a week ago and became an Act when President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to it on November 12.
