Sachin’s RS nomination left his fans bemused

Sachin’s visit to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at 10 Janpath yesterday in the company of his wife Anjali, Rajiv Shukla and with the breaking news that he has been nominated for Rajya Sabha left his millions of fans bemused and deluge of disappointment broke in the various social networking sites. Well, there can be couple of reasons for such spontaneous reactions from his fans. Firstly, we are so obsessed with Sachin that we personally relate to whatever he does in the field or off the field. His achievement / failures are considered to be our own achievements and failures. His actions and his words often create indelible impressions in our hearts. In the social networking site – Twitter, as soon as the news broke about Sachin’s nomination for Rajya Sabha, Sachin haters or rather his confused admirers (I can’t believe anyone can hate him ) started a smear campaign against him with hash tag #unfollowsachin which was a worldwide trending topic for more than 24 hours but for opposite reasons. Sachin’s fans decided to take it personally and deal with it in their own ways. This smear campaign has merely affected Sachin’s popularity on the social networking platform but has only added several thousand followers to his account.

The other reason could be while India’s young generation holds profound respect for sovereignty of parliament they are not too exulted to see nation’s political system, political parties and its politicians. With the current scenario in mind our political system has merely become a playground for unstoppable corruption, surfacing of scams every day, smear campaigns, shifting loyalties, negotiable integrities and inexplicable wastage of national exchequer down the drains. Well, there is much more to add to the list but let us keep it for some other day.

Cliched it may sound but Sachin is known for his undying passion and incredible dedication for the game which is considered as good as religion in this country and is the common denominator which brings the entire nation together. With over 2 decades of relentless contribution and achieving something unimaginable in the game (inhuman feat for some) Sachin is a national treasure, someone with unquestionable integrity, probity and he needs to be protected. Entire young generation looks up to him as a mentor and tries to impart some of his qualities in their character which are great signs for nation faced with scarcity of leaders today.

Sachin should be provided utopia like a “Kohinoor” diamond, should be protected and incessantly admired in the national interest. While frustration and disappointment of Sachin’s fans is justified as they seldom relate to the Indian political system, its politicians and strongly believe that there are no selfless gestures or motiveless decisions in our politics and Sachin joining RS will only make him vulnerable to the dubious games, tantrums, slandering, casting aspersion and denigration which is a part and parcel politics in India. This will not only hurt the iconic cricketers but his aficionados too in the long term. However, at the end it remains his personal choice and it is believed that he sought time when he was approached and conveyed his acceptance after thinking it through. Let us wish him all the best for his new inning beyond cricket and hope that he achieves something unimaginable in this battlefield too.