A political worker in India has come under fire after she was accused of body-shaming Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma and calling him “the most unimpressive” skipper of the country.
Opposition political party Congress’s national spokesperson Shama Mohamed made the off-colour remark about Sharma’s fitness as team India played against New Zealand in Dubai for the ICC Champions Trophy on Sunday.
India beat New Zealand to enter the semi-finals of the championship. However, skipper Sharma fell to Kyle Jamieson at just 15 runs off 17 balls.
In a now-deleted post on X, Ms Mohamed said: “Rohit Sharma is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course the most unimpressive Captain India has ever had!”
Her comments have sparked outrage from both cricketing and political commentators of the country.
While her Congress party distanced itself from the remarks, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and others have attacked the opposition for the comment that came in the midst of an international tournament.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia condemned the remarks as “unfortunate”, saying Sharma is absolutely fit and fine.
“Very unfortunate for a responsible person to pass such a trivial comment when the team is in the middle of such a crucial ICC tournament,” he told NDTV.
“It may have demoralising effect on an individual or the team. All the players are performing to their highest potential and results are visible. I hope individuals will desist from making such derogatory statements for personal publicity sake,” Mr Saikia said.
BJP’s national spokesperson, Pradeep Bhandari, said it was “extremely unfortunate” that the Congress party is now going after the captain of the Indian cricket team who has won us one of the world cups.
“This also tells you that the Congress party has stooped to an extremely low level and now they are trying to send the message that they are the sole arbitrator of judging any sportsperson or a professional. A true democratic party can’t do so,” he added.
Another BJP spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla, took a dig at Congress for losing elections under politician Rahul Gandhi.
“Those who have lost 90 elections under captaincy of Rahul Gandhi are calling captaincy of Rohit Sharma unimpressive!” he said.
Pawan Khera, chair of the party’s publicity department, said Ms Mohamed has been asked to delete the concerned social media post from X and has been advised to “advised to exercise greater caution in the future”.
He said her comments “about a cricketing legend that do not reflect the party’s position”.
“The Indian National Congress holds the contributions of sporting icons in the highest regard and does not endorse any statements that undermine their legacy,” Mr Khera added responding to BJP criticism of questioning Congress’ patriotism.
However, when questioned by media on Monday, Ms Mohamed defended her comments and said it was a “generic tweet” about a sportsperson’s fitness.
“It was not body-shaming. I always believed a sportsperson should be fit, and I felt he was a bit overweight, so I just tweeted about that. I have been attacked for no reason. When I compared him with previous captains, I put in a statement. I have the right. What is wrong in saying? It is a democracy…” she told ANI.
Priyanka Chaturvedi, a lawmaker representing Maharashtra from the Shiv Sena party, also came out in support of Sharma and said “with extra pounds of weight or without it”, he has led India team to great heights.
