Um, are we timid again? There was a time, back in the day, when Indians were timid. You know, intimidated by white people, their accents, expensive clothes and shoes. But, then, slowly, we got over that colonial mindset. The non-aligned movement helped us carve out a space for ourselves on the world stage. We won the cricket World Cup. We hosted the Asian Games, we liberalised, we became Miss Worlds and Miss Universes, our artistes won Oscar nominations, our doctors, engineers, MBAs and economists took over the world—from Indra Nooyi to Priyanka Chopra to Kamala Harris. We strode with assurance across the world stage.
Today, our globetrotting prime minister is a ‘vishwa guru’, a leader amongst leaders, much awarded by foreign governments, more famous than Shah Rukh Khan. His re-election campaign celebrated his influence abroad, including the heroic tale of how he got the war stopped to get our children back from Ukraine. This is a man who stands up for his own. Which is why I was totally gobsmacked by his roll-over-and-die tweet on the whole Vinesh Phogat issue. I was expecting him to come out with guns blazing in Phogat’s defence—appealing to the powers-that-be about the unfairness of the verdict, like our cricketers do—eyes ablaze, arms raised, spinning in slow motion to demand ‘howzat’ with full self-assurance and passion.
Illustration: Deni Lal
But, instead, he just tweeted a bunch of tame platitudes. ‘Vinesh, you are a champion among champions! You are India’s pride and an inspiration for each and every Indian. Today’s setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing. At the same time, I know that you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head on. Come back stronger! We are all rooting for you.’
Seriously? Words could not express his sense of despair? Do we need a prime minister who despairs? And, why the haste to put out the tweet? I mean, he was clearly in no hurry to congratulate Phogat for beating world number one Yui Susaki of Japan the previous day. But the moment she trips up, he’s immediately tweeting to commiserate. Imagine if he had instead taken the time to speak to a few experts, educated himself on all possible options and then tweeted something like—‘Vinesh, I am utterly gutted by the unfairness of what just happened. The best legal minds in the country are immediately at your disposal and will file your appeal as soon as possible. You’re a winner, and we’ve got your back. Hang in there and stay strong. Jai Hind.’ Surely that’s what a ‘vishwa guru’ would do? But no, all we got were statements in Parliament on government providing 070 lakh to Phogat in the build-up to the Olympics for training and competitions abroad. It was left to concerned NRIs and sympathetic fellow olympians to help Phogat file her appeal, with the Indian Olympic Association scrambling to make a late entry onto the team of lawyers.
Phogat has won anyway. Like Arijit Singh, who finished eight on the reality show Fame Gurukul, losing out to an audience poll favourite nobody even remembers today, like the band One Direction, who finished third on The X Factor, but achieved giddying heights of success subsequently. Phogat is already a winner, not in a contest but in real life. It would have just been nice if her country had had her back.
editor@theweek.in