Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has waded into the growing storm over Bangladeshi pacer Mustafizur Rahman’s removal from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), warning against the "mindless politicisation" of cricket. The controversy erupted after the BCCI reportedly directed KKR to release Rahman — who was snapped up for ₹9.20 crore in the recent mini-auction — following a fierce political backlash led by several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders.
The demand to oust Rahman stemmed from a wave of brutal attacks on the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. However, Tharoor questioned the logic of penalising an individual athlete for the actions of a foreign nation. Taking to X, the former diplomat asked whether the reaction would be the same if the players involved were Litton Das or Soumya Sarkar, both of whom are Bangladeshi Hindus. "Who are we punishing here— a nation, an individual, his religion?" he asked, arguing that Rahman has no link to the violence and has never been accused of hate speech or condoning atrocities.
The political rhetoric surrounding the IPL reached a boiling point earlier this week when BJP leader Sangeet Som branded KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan a "traitor" for signing the Bangladeshi cricketer. Som and other leaders from the BJP and Shiv Sena argued that hosting a Bangladeshi player is an insult to the Hindus currently facing torture and displacement across the border. Tharoor, however, countered that while India must keep up the diplomatic pressure on Dhaka to protect its minorities, sporting boycotts only serve to isolate the country from its neighbours. "We need a big heart and a big mind in this matter," he told reporters.
The backdrop to this debate remains grim. Tharoor’s comments coincide with the death of Khokon Chandra Das, a Hindu businessman in Bangladesh who was hacked and set on fire by assailants earlier this week. Das's death is the latest in a string of targeted killings — including the shooting of Bajendra Biswas and the lynching of Amrit Mondal — that have left the minority community in a state of terror. While Tharoor acknowledged the severity of these "horrific" events, he maintained that a cricketer like Rahman should not be forced to "carry the burden" of these crimes.
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