We don't have "racism" in Indian Society

People, who say that Harbhajan made racial remarks against Andrew Symonds, must know that "racism" is not prevalent in Indian society. Being a poor and underdeveloped country for long, India has been witnessing divide on the basis of religion, caste and poverty. But the common people hardly know anything about "racism".

On the diplomatic level, India has been a strong opponent of racism that prevailed mainly in South Africa, England, Australian and many other African and European countries. In those countries, white people used to inflict atrocities on the black people. In fact, as India was ruled by the British for more than 300 years, its people were subjected to humiliation, bias and discrimination on the basis of color and race.

Remember, Indian took the initiative to get South Africa banned from World Sports in 1970, as black people in that country were subjected to highest racial abuse. Similarly, India helped South Africa to return to the mainstream of sports, after things returned to normal in 1992. It is hard to believe that an Indian can racial abuse a foreigner. Ironically, Indians are considered black or brown by the foreigners.

It is not known what exactly Harbhajan Singh said to Andrew Symonds. Even if we rule out any conspiracy angle, it is certain that Harbhajan did not make any intentional racial remark. I can bet that he is not even qualified to understand what racism is and how it has affected the Australian society. Keeping these things in mind, either he should have been issued an warning for using offensive language or should have penalized in terms of his match fee. Again, no on racial charges, but for making "any" abusive remark.

India and Indians cannot take the racism charge lightly. They will fight against it until Harbhajan is cleared of charges. Till date, no Indian has been ever found guilty on any racial charges in any level, forget about cricket. Then how can a nation of 1.3 billion people keep quiet when one of leading cricketers is charged of racial abuse in a country that has long traditions of racism. The ball is in ICC's court. Hopefully, the matter will be sorted out peacefully. If the ban continues on Harbhajan, then world cricket will be in jeopardy.