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| February 18, 2003 | Tuesday | Zul Hijjah 16, 1423 |
Enraged Indians take to the streets
NEW DELHI, Feb 17: An effigy of India captain Saurav Ganguly was burnt in Kolkata as cricket fans vented their anger at their team’s poor start to the World Cup in protests across the country on Monday.
In the first two games, India scored just 204 in their victory over minor nation Holland before losing by nine wickets to world champions Australia in South Africa on Saturday.
In the eastern city of Kolkata fans set fire to the straw effigy and yelled “down with Ganguly” after staging a mock funeral for the player the day before.
Following the protests, police said they were keeping a close watch on the Indian captain’s house in Calcutta.
“We’re doing what’s needed in terms of security,” police superintendent Deb Kumar Ganguly said.
The police tightened security around the Indian skipper’s house last month after reports he was being targeted by a Pakistan-based guerrilla group.
In Mumbai, fans burnt posters of opener Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly and Virender Sehwag.
“The whole of India is very angry,” said protest organiser Ashok Jadhav.
“India has won the World Cup (in 1983) and this team is one of the world’s best but their performance has been very bad.”
There was also anger in the northern city of Allahabad where fans hurled black paint and oil at the house of middle-order batsman Mohammad Kaif.
The scene contrasted sharply with fans’ euphoria outside his home a few months ago after the player scored a match-winning 87 against England in a one-day final at Lord’s.
“The attack was not serious ... but it was very disappointing,” a member of Kaif’s family said.
India play their next match against Zimbabwe in Harare on Wednesday.
Protesters said fan anger could mount if India lose to bitter rivals Pakistan in their Group A encounter on March 1.
“If India lose to Pakistan, then people won’t allow them to even come out of the airport,” Jadhav said in Mumbai.
India has banned bilateral cricket between the neighbours because of deep tensions over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Meanwhile, a number of Indian fans are campaigning to punish Saurav Ganguly and his men by boycotting products they endorse.
An instant poll taken by the Hindi-language news channel Aaj Tak after India was crushed by the defending champions Australia on Saturday found that more than 80 percent of respondents would stay away from products plugged by the “Men in Blue.”
And now Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages are circulating across India’s mobile telephone network urging an outright boycott.
The Times of India said some sponsors, sensing the public mood, have quietly withdrawn television commercials featuring the Indian cricketers, who have superstar status in this country of one billion-plus.
What worried the sponsors was a single SMS message sent across the country which said, “We make one promise today — not to buy any product which has Indian cricketers as models,” the daily said.
Two mobile phone service providers in eastern India said that while it was impossible to tell how many of the messages were sent, they had each recorded it hitting users’ inboxes 100,000 times.
India managed only 125 runs against Australia in their second match at the Cricket World Cup at Centurion Park after the batting line-up crumbled.
India’s first match against minnows Holland too saw a colourless performance by the batsmen, with the Dutch team dismissing the former champions for 204.—Reuters/AFP
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