top of page

By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same...

Applause for Cricket, Silence for Badminton

Mumbai: When Lakshya Sen walked off the court after the final of the All England Badminton Championships, he carried with him the disappointment of another near miss. The Indian shuttler went down in straight games to Lin Chun-Yi, who created history by becoming the first player from Chinese Taipei to lift the prestigious title. But the story of Lakshya Sen’s defeat is not merely about badminton final. It is also about the contrasting way India celebrates its sporting heroes. Had the same narrative unfolded on a cricket field, the reaction would have been dramatically different. In cricket, even defeat often becomes a story of heroism. A hard-fought loss by the Indian team can dominate television debates, fill newspaper columns and trend across social media for days. A player who narrowly misses a milestone is still hailed for his fighting spirit. The nation rallies around its cricketers not only in victory but also in defeat. The narrative quickly shifts from the result to the effort -- the resilience shown, the fight put up, the promise of future triumph. This emotional investment is one of the reasons cricket enjoys unparalleled popularity in India. It has built a culture where players become household names and their performances, good or bad, become part of the national conversation. Badminton Fights Contrast that with what happens in sports like badminton. Reaching the final of the All England Championships is a monumental achievement. The tournament is widely considered badminton’s equivalent of Wimbledon in prestige and tradition. Only the very best players manage to reach its final stages, and doing it twice speaks volumes about Lakshya Sen’s ability and consistency. Yet the reaction in India remained largely subdued. There were congratulatory posts, some headlines acknowledging the effort and brief discussions among badminton enthusiasts. But the level of national engagement never quite matched the magnitude of the achievement. In a cricketing context, reaching such a stage would have triggered days of celebration and analysis. In badminton, it often becomes just another sports update. Long Wait India’s wait for an All England champion continues. The last Indian to win the title was Pullela Gopichand in 2001. Before him, Prakash Padukone had scripted history in 1980. These victories remain among the most significant milestones in Indian badminton. And yet, unlike cricketing triumphs that are frequently revisited and celebrated, such achievements rarely stay in the mainstream sporting conversation for long. Lakshya Sen’s journey to the final should ideally have been viewed as a continuation of that legacy, a reminder that India still possesses the talent to challenge the world’s best in badminton. Instead, it risks fading quickly from public memory. Visibility Gap The difference ultimately comes down to visibility and cultural investment. Cricket in India is not merely a sport; it is an ecosystem built over decades through media attention, sponsorship, and mass emotional attachment. Individual sports, on the other hand, often rely on momentary bursts of recognition, usually during Olympic years or when a medal is won. But consistent performers like Lakshya Sen rarely receive the sustained spotlight that their achievements deserve. This disparity can also influence the next generation. Young athletes are naturally drawn to sports where success brings recognition, financial stability and national fame. When one sport monopolises the spotlight, others struggle to build similar appeal. Beyond Result Lakshya Sen may have finished runner-up again, but his performance at the All England Championship is a reminder that India continues to produce world-class athletes in disciplines beyond cricket. The real issue is not that cricket receives immense attention -- it deserves the admiration it gets. The concern is that athletes from other sports often do not receive comparable appreciation for achievements that are equally significant in their own arenas. If India aspires to become a truly global sporting nation, its applause must grow broader. Sporting pride cannot remain confined to one field. Because somewhere on a badminton court, an athlete like Lakshya Sen is fighting just as hard for the country’s colours as any cricketer on a packed stadium pitch. The only difference is how loudly the nation chooses to cheer.

Roll Call or Roll Purge?

A sweeping revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls has spooked fears of disenfranchising the marginalised while igniting a political firestorm before elections.

Bihar
Bihar

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has embarked on what it describes as a “special intensive revision” (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, the first of six states slated for scrutiny. The exercise, ostensibly designed to weed out foreign illegal migrants and ensure that only bona fide Indian citizens remain on the voter list, has rapidly morphed into a political powder keg. With state elections due by year’s end, opposition parties accuse the poll body of complicity in what they allege is a pre-election purge of voters likely to favour their alliance. The ECI insists it is merely fulfilling its constitutional mandate.


Electoral rolls, like all living documents, require periodic pruning to remain credible by removing the deceased, accounting for migrations and plugging loopholes through which ineligible voters, including foreign nationals, may sneak in. Bihar, sharing a porous border with Nepal and home to millions of seasonal migrants, offers ample justification for vigilance.


What has drawn fire is not the rationale but the rollout. Critics point to the fact that the last such intensive revision in Bihar was carried out in 2003, well before the 20024 general election and the state elections in 2005, thus giving citizens ample time to appeal deletions or contest exclusions. This time, the SIR is being launched just months before a closely fought election.


The government’s defence rests on constitutional grounds. Article 326 stipulates that only Indian citizens can vote. That principle is not up for debate. Yet the spectre haunting Bihar is not legality but selective disenfranchisement. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien accused the EC of “bringing in the NRC through the back door,” likening the current process to Nazi-era racial documentation. Allusions to fascism may be hyperbolic, but the sense of déjà vu is hard to ignore. India has, in recent years, witnessed the explosive political consequences of attempts to prove citizenship on paper. The botched implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam left millions in limbo, many of them impoverished and lacking formal documentation.


AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also expressed concern, noting that Bihar’s electoral rolls already underwent a Special Summary Revision earlier this year. He warned that the current exercise risks becoming another instrument of exclusion, especially as it now hinges on the 2003 electoral roll as the base document.


There are, undeniably, real risks of manipulation in border regions like Bihar, where porous frontiers make it easy for non-citizens to blend in. But conflating national security with voter roll verification, particularly so close to elections, risks undermining democratic credibility. According to legal experts, the EC is within its rights to conduct such a revision. What is in question is the proportionality and intent behind the timing.


The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) comprised of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party—has dismissed allegations of foul play. Yet the optics do not favour the incumbents. In a state where caste arithmetic, minority votes, and migrant populations heavily influence the outcome, even a marginal recalibration of the voter base can tip the scales.


The Election Commission was once regarded as a paragon of electoral integrity in a tumultuous democracy. Now, it is accused of moving in lockstep with the ruling dispensation’s political imperatives.


If the objective is to ensure clean, credible elections, where transparency must be paramount. The EC should clearly publish the methodology, safeguards, and grievance redressal mechanisms attached to the SIR. It must also allow adequate time for citizens to prove their eligibility - not just technically, but practically, given the constraints of rural documentation and seasonal migration.


Democracies falter not just when the rules are broken, but when the rules are bent just enough to serve partisan ends. Bihar’s voter list must reflect the will of the people, not the anxieties of the powerful.

Comments

bottom of page