Another face of racism
Owing to misuse of social media, truth is traveling at a snail’s pace. People are blind to truth now. Hence, people get to know rumours faster than the truth. Rumours are more attractive over truth. Rumours for their part, gain wings no sooner they are spread and people love them too. They easily fall prey to those rumours started by miscreants. People take law onto their own hands. In one such instance, people in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet have beaten a labourer from Rajasthan to death owing to a rumour relating to child lifters. One rumour that was circulated regarding child kidnappers, had spread like wildfire and this claimed its victim.
The fact that the Rajasthani fellow spoke to a child as a friendly gesture itself was enough to decide he was children kidnapper. People came to that conclusion immediately. And when they come together in groups, they get major bouts of bravery and false valour. Even the weakest man in the group turns into massive fighter owing to the egging on that happens in the group atmosphere. The cold cruel shades become strong colours. According to police department, this rumour about child kidnappers has led to 81 cases of people getting beaten up in the last 25 days. In many places innocent people have been beaten to pulp. This rumour about children kidnappers has spread in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and other places. This virus spreads faster than Nipah virus. Some people have even beaten up beggars who were begging to save their lives. One of them even lost his life.
Though these are sporadic incidents, deep down these can be classified as racism at a different level. Such groups are common in North India. Women have been put to death in Haryana and Jharkhand mistaking them to ‘witches’. Mostly, men who have plans of usurping single women’s property have spread such rumours to get them killed by a mob so that their job becomes easier. A hungry young tribal was killed in Kerala’s Palakkad. That is the highest form of racist violence we have seen in recent days. All those attacks on muslims for transporting the cattle in Haryana and Jharkhand are similar too. Muslims are the most hated community today and are biggest victims of racist violence. Small violences have turned into big time hatred for a community. Sikh massacre turned into Gujarat massacre.
Various group violence instances in Karnataka have happened on those labourers who came looking for employment from Rajasthan, Bihar and other surrounding places. Why should they be seen as robbers or kidnappers? Because they wear torn clothes?
All those who have stolen thousands of crores, have close links with politicians who wear suit-boot, have close contacts with underworld mafias. They wear branded and costly clothes. Aren’t they robbers? Why there isn’t a single attack on them by general public? The common people who come to a conclusion no sooner does a poor man speak to a child, do we show the same presence of mind when a well-dressed man speaks to a child? He could be one too!
We see the same racist violence being exhibited towards labourers who come from North Karnataka to cities like Bengaluru and Mangaluru. The way the bus conductors address them and treat them are different faces of racism. That someone could be ‘kidnapper’ is just a pretext. We need to strengthen our laws so strong that even if a mob lynches someone, we need to get them punished for the crime of having killed an innocent man. Even if the dead man is a child kidnapper, he has to be produced before the court. And no one has the right to take law onto themselves. The lynch mob needs to be taught a lesson by way of being awarded life sentence. Only then, their unruly behavior may come to some sanity.
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Axar shifts focus to next IPL after KKR all but end DC's campaign
New Delhi (PTI): A beleaguered Axar Patel admitted that both his team's batters and bowlers let the side down after Delhi Capitals suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders, virtually ending their IPL 2026 playoff hopes, while indicating the team had already begun looking ahead to the next season.
DC endured a miserable outing at home, managing only 142/8, which Kolkata Knight Riders chased down in just 14.2 overs, powered by a blistering unbeaten 100 from Finn Allen and his destructive stand with Cameron Green (33 not out) as the visitors tore apart the bowling attack.
With just eight points from 11 matches, DC are eighth on the table, while KKR revived their playoff hopes with a resurgent run, moving to seventh with nine points from 10 outings, though their road to the knockouts still remains difficult.
"For now, we'll go back and think about the mistakes we made. After that, obviously there's still a long journey ahead and next year will come too. So we'll think about what plans we can make for next year and what approach we should take," said Axar after the match.
"Based on that, we can also look at the players sitting on the bench and decide who can be given opportunities and what changes we can make," he added, hinting at a possible major overhaul next season.
With 200-plus totals becoming the norm this season, 142 was always going to be inadequate, and Axar admitted the score was well below par while also pointing out at poor judgement shown by the spinners while defending the modest total.
"I think the runs were definitely below par and at the same time the spinners made quite a few mistakes. Looking at the way the pitch behaved, I feel the spinners did make errors.
"At the same time, we lost five wickets in two-three overs, and I think that's where the momentum slipped away from us. That's probably something we need to think about because the same thing happened against CSK...we started well, and then suddenly wickets kept falling," he added.
He admitted the solutions to the issues could be found but players need to show the right mindset and character.
"See, you can't solve it in a complicated way. So, I think it's more about applying the right mindset. Even if you lose one or two wickets, you can still spend time at the crease and play through it. I think that's what needs to be applied, when wickets are falling in clusters, you need to absorb the pressure for an over or two," opined Axar.
KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane was pleased to see a struggling Finn Allen finally rediscover his touch with the bat.
"I'm really happy for Finn Allen. He was struggling first four or five games, working really hard, but the way he batted tonight was fantastic. But I want to praise our bowlers again.
"We did well because of them. And they've been doing it so well consistently, especially those middle overs and the death overs. Our spinners, Sunil Narine, Varun (Chakravarthy) and Anukul Roy, have been fantastic," he said.
"Fielding-wise, yes, we are working really hard. Our fielding coach has been really strict with us. And that's what has been helping us. The result which you've been seeing about the catches and the ground fielding, credit goes to our fielding coach as well," he added.
