Known Bangladeshi hatemonger and asylum seeker Taslima Nasreen was forced to delete her ‘disgusting’ tweet against England all-rounder Moeen Ali after several English cricketers registered their outrage on Twitter. This has prompted many Indian Twitterati to draw a parallel with the silence of Indian cricketers when Wasim Jaffer was being hounded by right-wing thugs for his Muslim faith.
Nasreen had stoked controversy with her tweet that read, “If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS.” Several teammates of Moeen Ali had wasted no time in extending support to the Chennai Super Kings all-rounder while slamming the Bangladeshi hatemonger for her ‘disgusting’ tweet.
“Are you okay ? I don’t think you’re okay,” England fast bowler Jofra Archer had tweeted. This had prompted Nasreen to issue a clarification that her tweet on Ali was merely in sarcasm. Reacting to her clarification, Archer had written, “Sarcastic ? No one is laughing , not even yourself , the least you can do is delete the tweet.”
Another England player, Sam Billings, had urged his fans to report Nasreen’s account for policy violations. “Please everyone report this account,” Billings had written.
Another English cricketer Saqib Mahmood had tweeted, “Can’t believe this. Disgusting tweet. Disgusting individual.”
While Nasreen was forced to delete her tweet, Indian netizens were quick to applaud the bold stand taken by English cricketers in support of their teammate. Many Twitter users also asked Indian cricketers to learn from England players since they had chosen to remain silent when former India opener Wasim Jaffer was being attacked for his Muslim faith earlier this year.
England Cricketers Indian Cricketers
in support of in support of
Moeen Ali Wasim Jaffer pic.twitter.com/ok7kKVgzK5— The Ⓑⓞⓝⓖ Next Door (@VotHardVotHard) April 7, 2021
English cricketers came in support of Moeen Ali when a shameless bigot attacked him because they live in a relatively civilised society.
Indian cricketers kept mum when Wasim Jaffer was attacked because we live in an uncivilized society under a fascist regime.
— Siddharth (@DearthOfSid) April 6, 2021
One attack on Moeen’s belief and the whole England team is out here protecting him. Meanwhile our cricketers, current and former, had their lips sewn about the baseless attack on Wasim Jaffer.
— Mr. Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (@basedIITian) April 6, 2021
Moeen Ali is lucky to have a wonderful teammates unlike Wasim Jaffer.
— Black (@elia_official) April 6, 2021
English cricketers stood with Moeen Ali when attacked with hatespeech
Indian cricketers maintained silence when similar thing happened with one of the finest cricketer Wasim Jaffer
— Aarif Shah (@aarifshaah) April 6, 2021
Many of Jaffer’s former teammates including Sachin Tendulkar had chosen to remain silent when he was accused of being communal for questioning the interference in team selection by Uttarakhand cricket association officials. Jaffer was forced to resign from the post of the Uttarakhand team coach. Only a few players such as Anil Kumble, Chandrakant Pandit, Irfan Pathan, Dodda Ganesh, Manoj Tiwari and Mohammed Kaif had rallied behind Jaffer.
