Ahead of World Cup, soccer-crazy Keralites kick off a cutout war
Kozhikode(PTI): Football frenzy is peaking in 'paradoxical' Kerala ahead of the world cup as huge cutouts of Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and Cristiano Ronaldo erected alongside a scenic river flowing through this north Kerala district have grabbed worldwide attention.
As the marquee tournament kicks off in Qatar later this month, soccer mania has gripped this southern state and fan pages, largely celebrating South American nations dominating the sport, have started going viral.
Kerala, known for its love for football, caught the global attention last week when a group of Argentinian soccer team fans in Pullavoor village erected a 30-foot-tall cutout of Messi over a small islet in the river weeks ahead of the Qatar World Cup.
If Argentina is there, can Brazil be left behind?
Keralite Brazil fans erected a 40-foot-tall cutout of Neymar Jr along the banks of the river, spicing up the contest between the supporters of the two stars.
It didn't take long for Messi and Neymar Jr to be overshadowed by yet another over 45-foot tall Cristiano Ronaldo cutout wearing Portugal jersey. The fans have used his widely shared image of him preparing for a free kick at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Incidentally, FIFA tweeted a picture of the cutouts, saying world cup "fever has hit Kerala."Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan thanked the world football body for "acknowledging our unmatched passion for the sport." Kerala's love for football is "on full display" with the World Cup around, he said in a tweet.
"These cutouts have been widely shared by the official fan pages of Argentina and Brazil," E T Nibinraj, a resident from a nearby area, told PTI.
Argentina National Football Team, an unverified Facebook page with over over 4.23 lakh Likes and followers, posted the image of Messi's cutout on November 1 which went viral.
Numerous fan pages, including that of Brazil, have shared the viral images.
According to P V Sreenijan MLA, who is also the president of District Sports Council in Ernakulam and an office bearer of the district football association, said the club football history of the country has greatly influenced the people of Kerala.
"The Mohun Bagan and East Bengal clubs along with the 1973 Santosh Trophy win among other factors attracted a whole generation towards football. Keralites are also big fans of (Deigo) Maradona, Pele. The history of Argentina and the literature on Latin American football was readily available to Keralites through books and newspapers," Sreenijan told PTI, while tracing the Malayali community's love for soccer.
A popular social media handle, @Advaidism, who is an ardent fan of Arsenal club, said the passion for football is so high in Kerala that before each FIFA world cup, half of the state supports Brazil while the other half will root for the Argentinian football team.
"Kerala is a paradoxical Indian state where football is far more popular than cricket. Kerala hosted Santosh Trophy in 1950s and won it in 1970s. Kerala enjoyed a golden age from 1985 to 1995 by making it to Santhosh Trophy finals seven times consecutively and football became an iconic sport ever since in the south Indian state," said the social media handler who did not wish to be identified by his name.
Kerala has produced many talented footballers like I M Vijayan, C V Pappachan, V P Sathyan and C K Vineeth. Today, the 'sevens' tournament football is very popular in Kerala, @Advaidism said.
The cutout mania has its critics too. A lawyer, who claims to be an activist, filed a complaint with the Chathamangalam panchayat to remove the structures claiming they might affect the natural flow of the river.
The location borders Chathamangalam panchayat and Koduvally Municipality. The Municipal authorities claim it is part of their territory. The local body authorities said they were not planning to remove the cutouts.
Kunnamangalam MLA P T A Rahim said the game of football unites people across countries and languages and they stand with the joy of football fans.
"There is no basis in the argument that the cutouts of Messi and Neymar installed in Pullavur (sic) should be removed. The place where the cutouts were installed is on the border of Chathamangalam GP (gram panchayat) and Koduvalli municipality...part given by GoK for the drinking water system of NIT," Rahim tweeted.
He said he visited the site and it was confirmed the cutouts installed in the area adjacent to the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut's check dam will not affect the natural flow of the river in any way.
Meanwhile, a tragic incident was reported from Kannur on November 5 when a 48-year-old man, a diehard fan of Brazil who was attempting to tie a poster up a tree, died after falling from it.
In 2021, when Argentina lifted the Copa America cup, the streets of Kerala were as charged as any Latin American street. ESPN Argentina had then shared a video of Argentina fans in Kerala riding through the streets in joy.
Kerala is also witnessing a friendly banter between the enthusiastic legislators cutting across political lines over two favourite teams, Brazil and Argentina.
The now customary social media fight of leaders started this time with State Education Minister, V Sivankutty cheering Brazil with a poster saying the football giant will lift this edition of the World cup.
Senior Left leader and former state minister M M Mani, an Argentina fan, responded sarcastically by commenting that he hopes that Brazil will not catch the first return flight from Qatar.
Later, MLAs P Mammikutty, M Vijin, M Naushad, V K Prasanth and LDF convenor E P Jayarajan, among others came out in support of Argentina.
MLAs K M Sachindev, K T Jaleel among others backed Brazil.
#FIFAWorldCup fever has hit Kerala
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) November 8, 2022
Giant cutouts of Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi popped up on a local river ahead of the tournament.
12 days to go until #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/29yEKQvln5
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Congress not just removed clothes at AI Summit but exposed its intellectual bankruptcy: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday came down heavily on the Congress for the shirtless protest by its youth wing members at the AI Impact Summit recently, saying the opposition party can tear as many clothes as it wants, but his government will continue to work for the country's progress.
Addressing the News18 Rising Bharat Summit, Modi also said that the Congress did not just remove its clothes in front of foreign guests but also exposed its intellectual bankruptcy, asserting that the millennials have already taught the country's oldest party a lesson, and now Gen-Z is ready to do the same.
In an apparent jibe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Modi said the opposition was unhappy seeing the statue of "Babbar Shers" (lions) installed atop the new Parliament building, but their own “Babbar Shers" were running away after facing the "shoes" of the general public.
Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said on February 24 that he was proud of the "Babbar Shers" of the Indian Youth Congress, who "fearlessly" raised their voice at the AI Summit.
"Congress ke Babbar Sher logon ki jute kha ke bhaag gaye (The 'lions' of Congress ran away after being hit by shoes by the public)," Modi said.
The prime minister was apparently referring to the protesting Youth Congress workers being heckled by some people at the AI Summit.
On February 20, a group of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) workers staged a dramatic protest inside Hall No. 5 of the summit venue in Delhi by removing their shirts to reveal T-shirts printed with anti-government slogans, triggering a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
“Congress can tear as many clothes as it wants, but we will continue to work for India's development. Congress not just shed clothes at the AI Summit, it also exposed its incapabilities in front of foreign guests,” Modi said in his nearly 45-minute speech.
He said the AI Summit was a moment of pride for the entire nation, but unfortunately, Congress attempted to tarnish this national celebration.
"When the frustration and despair of failure weigh on the mind, and arrogance makes one's head spin, such a mindset emerges to defame the country," he said.
The prime minister also alleged that the Congress always takes refuge in Mahatma Gandhi to hide its failures, but tries to give credit to one family for anything good.
"People of our country welcomed every good step taken by our government, but the Congress only knows how to oppose everything. The votes of Congress are not stolen; rather, people do not consider Congress worthy of their votes. Millennials first taught a lesson to Congress, now Gen-Z is ready to do the same," he said.
Modi also said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition is not just about blindly opposing every move of the government, but presenting an alternative vision, and that is why the "enlightened public" of the country is "teaching a lesson" to Congress now.
In 1984, the Congress got 39 per cent of the votes and more than 400 seats. But its votes declined consistently in the subsequent elections, Modi said.
"Today, the condition of the Congress is such that it has more than 50 MLAs in just four states. Over the past 40 years, the number of young voters in the country has increased, but the Congress has clearly diminished," Modi said.
On the recent trade deals that India signed with foreign countries, Modi said the country has discovered its inherent strength and strengthened its institutions, which prompted developed nations to come forward and sign deals with India.
He also said that even after Independence, some people ensured that the colonial mindset remained for their own benefits.
"No country would have done trade deals with us had we not discovered our inherent strength and strengthened our institutions. Because of this, developed nations have come forward to sign trade deals (with India)," he said.
Modi also said that even after Independence, India was unable to break free from the mentality of slavery, for which the country is still paying the price.
"The latest example of this can be seen in the ongoing discussions on trade deals. Some people are shocked – ‘what has happened, how did this happen? Why are developed countries so eager to do trade deals with India?’ The answer is – a confident India is emerging from despair and frustration," he said.
Over the long span of history, centuries of slavery had instilled a feeling of inferiority, while the ideology imported from other countries deeply ingrained in society the notion that Indians were uneducated and subservient, the prime minister said.
"If the country was still mired in the despair of the pre-2014 era, counted among the 'Fragile Five', and gripped by policy paralysis, who would strike a trade deal with us?
"Over the past 11 years, a new surge of energy has flowed into the nation's consciousness. India is now striving to reclaim its lost potential," Modi said.
The prime minister also said that due to the recent series of reforms initiated by his government, the world's most powerful nations are now coming forward to sign trade deals with India.
"There was a time when India was only a consumer of new technology. But now we are not just developing them, but also setting standards," he said.
The prime minister also said that India's digital public infrastructure has become a subject of global discussion today, and every move India makes is closely watched and analysed across the world.
"The AI Summit was a clear example of this," he said.
The government's 'Viksit Bharat by 2047' is not a political slogan but an effort to correct the mistakes of the previous Congress governments by making India self-reliant, he said.
“So far, in every industrial revolution, India and the Global South largely remained followers, but in this age of artificial intelligence (AI), India is not only participating but is also shaping it. India now has its own AI startup ecosystem,” Modi said.
He also said the world is astonished that India, where around 30 million families lived in darkness until 2014, has now risen to become one of the top countries in solar power capacity.
India, where many cities had no hope of improving their public transport system, has now become the country with the world's third-largest Metro network, Modi said.
“The Indian Railways was known only for chronic delays and sluggish speeds, yet semi-high-speed connectivity like Vande Bharat and Namo Bharat has now become possible,” he said.
Nation-building never happens through short-term thinking; it is shaped by a long-term vision, patience and timely decisions, the prime minister added.
