Isa Guha calls Bumrah 'primate', apologises for her remark later
Brisbane (PTI): Former England player and commentator Isa Guha, who referred to Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as a "primate" during the third Test between India and Australia here, apologised for her racist remark on Monday.
She said she was "deeply sorry" for choosing a wrong word to describe the India pacer's brilliant display with the ball.
Guha made the comment in response to Brett Lee's praise of the Indian bowler after Bumrah dismissed both Australian openers on day two of the Test on Sunday.
"Well, he's the MVP, isn't he? Most valuable primate, Jasprit Bumrah," Guha had said while commentating for Fox Cricket.
"He is the one that's going to do all the talking for India, and why so much focus was on him in the buildup to this Test match, and whether he would be fit." The usage of the word "primate" by Guha caused a social media storm, as fans slammed her and forced the 39-year-old to issue an apology.
"Yesterday in commentary I used a word that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. I'd like to apologise for any offence caused," Guha said on air at the start of day three.
"I set myself really high standards when it comes to empathy and respect of others. If you listen to the full transcript I only meant the highest praise for one of India's greatest players. And someone that I admire greatly." Guha, who is of Indian heritage and has been in Fox Sports' broadcast team for several years, said there was no malice in her comments.
"I'm an advocate for equality and someone who has spent their career thinking about inclusion and understanding in the game.
"I was trying to frame the enormity of his achievement and I've chosen the wrong word. For that I am deeply sorry," she added.
"As someone who is also … of South Asian heritage, I hope people would recognise there was no other intention or malice there. I hope this doesn't overshadow what has been a great Test match so far and I look forward to seeing how it progresses. Once again, I am really, really sorry." Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who sat next to Guha when she issued the apology, praised her for addressing the matter live on air. Former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist was also there.
"Brave woman, to apologise on live television takes some steel. You heard it from the horse's mouth so as far as I am concerned, game's over," Shastri said.
"People are entitled to make mistakes, we are all human. In the heat of the moment, sometimes when you have the mic in your hand, things can happen. Let's move on," said Shastri.
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BJP asks Sonia Gandhi to return Nehru letters to Prime Ministers' Museum and Library
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Monday asked former Congress president Sonia Gandhi to return the correspondences of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru with a host of personalities to the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library, saying the historical documents belonged to the country and were not anyone's personal property.
BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra cited reports of the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library's (PMML) deliberations on the issue to note that Nehru's correspondences with Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British viceroy to India, and eminent leaders Jayaprakash Narayan and Jagjivan Ram lay with the erstwhile Nehru Museum and Library Society, which returned them to Sonia Gandhi in 2008.
The Nehru museum was expanded to include memorials to all prime ministers and renamed the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library after the BJP came to power at the Centre.
Patra told reporters that 51 cartons of Nehru's correspondences were given to Sonia Gandhi after approval of the museum's then director.
However, following a legal opinion, Rizwan Kadri -- one of the 29 members of the society tasked with running the PMML -- recently wrote to Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, seeking his help in restoring the papers to the museum's custody, he added.
The BJP leader said Kadri did not receive any reply.
Taking a swipe at the Gandhi family, Patra said these were not personal property but historical documents part of the "treasure" of India.
As Nehru was a member of the family, it suffers from a sense of entitlement over his letters, he alleged.
He asked, "What were the contents of the letter that the first family felt should not be made public?"
He noted that the digitisation process began in the museum in 2010 but the Gandhi family decided to take back the letters' possession before that.
Patra had earlier raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during Question Hour but Union Culture Minister Gejendra Singh Shekhawat declined to answer, saying his query was unrelated to the written question submitted in advance.
