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What’s the story?
It was a very proud moment for Parvez Rasool, India’s only international cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir, as he earned a recall to the Indian side for the T20I series against England three years after his solitary ODI back in 2014.
It should have been a moment which was much celebrated as he has fought multiple hardships to get to this level. During the national anthem, he was spotted supposedly ‘standing in a casual manner’ and chewing gum.
The moment was spotted by fans all over and they immediately took to Twitter to mark their disapproval.
This video does prove to be inconclusive but fans on Twitter have already delivered their verdict while condemning him absolutely guilty.
In case you didn’t know...
During a rendition of the national anthem, one is expected to stand in an upright manner and come to ‘attention’.
Section 3 of the Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act, 1971 states that whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Indian National Anthem or causes disturbance to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
As per the above, Parvez Rasool did not intentionally prevent or cause any disturbance to the singing of the national anthem, and thus would not be legally punished. But fans aren’t having any of that as for them, he was clearly standing “at ease” and chewing gun in a manner that would suggest a show of disrespect to the national anthem.
This comes at a time of mass promotion of a nationalistic identity with theatres now required to play the national anthem before the start of a movie. Everyone in the theatre is expected to stand for the anthem, and the refusal to do so draws the ire of the people around you.
The heart of the matter
As the rest of the Indian cricket team stood at attention and sang the national anthem, cameras caught 27-year-old Parvez Rasool chewing gum. Matters become worse as he belongs to Jammu and Kashmir, a state that has been maligned for a number of years.
The benefit of the doubt has to be with Rasool, who might have just been preoccupied with thoughts of his performance returning to the Indian team after a lengthy break. Further, the video does prove to be inconclusive and he might just have been singing the anthem as well.
But the watching world had none of it and wanted the Indian team to take action about the incident.
As is clear from the above tweets, Parvez Rasool will not be held to the same standards as the other players simply because he hails from Kashmir and this issue is going to be much harder for him.
What’s next?
The Indian cricket team is in great hands at the moment with Anil Kumble serving as coach of the team. One expects the coach to handle this issue well by having a word with the player and briefing him about a fan’s perspective towards a player that represents India in the game of cricket.
The Indian cricket team is a symbol of national pride and the players are expected to be role models at all times.
Sportskeeda’s take
We believe that this is a simply unfortunate moment for the cricketer and hope that a sympathetic view is taken of the matter. It would help if Parvez Rasool did come out and simply clarify his stand on the matter.
But given the way that the Indian team deals with the things, one expects the team to surround Rasool in support and urge him to go about his job.
Instances like this have a very short lifeline and it will be forgotten the next time he puts in a good performance for the team. That said, the next time team India lines up for the national anthem, they are bound to be cautious and we will be highly surprised if anyone were to be chewing gum.
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