Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya strongly reacted on Friday to recent comments made about cricketer Rohit Sharma by Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) politicians, expressing his extreme dissatisfaction. He also asked political parties to avoid meddling in athletes' personal affairs. Mandaviya criticized the body-shaming statements given to the Indian captain calling them "outright pathetic" in addition to being shameful.
Sports Minister slams Congress and TMC leaders
"Congress and TMC should leave sportspersons alone as they are fully capable of handling their professional lives. Remarks made by leaders from these parties, indulging in body shaming and questioning an athlete’s place in the team, are not only deeply shameful but also outright pathetic. Such comments undermine the hard work and sacrifices that our sportspersons make to represent the country on the global stage," Mandaviya wrote from his official account on 'X' formwerly known as Twitter.
Another politician has supported Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed's claim that Indian captain Rohit Sharma should be kicked off the Indian cricket team, adding to the controversy over her "fat shaming" comment about Sharma. The Trinamool Congress, a partner of the INDIA alliance, backed the Congress politician. According to TMC MP Saugata Roy, Sharma has been struggling in every match across all formats.
TMC MP on Rohit Sharma
The Trinamool Congress MP, Sugata Roy, questioned for how long the Indian captain will be spared and that he should not even be in the team.
"I agree with what she said on Rohit Sharma. She made the remark as a cricket viewer, not a politician. For how long will Rohit Sharma be spared? He scored a century once. He just manages to score two, five and ten runs. shouldn't even be in the team," Roy told ANI.
According to Roy, the team has been winning games because of other players, and Rohit Sharma, the captain, has not done anything to help the team win.
"I heard that Rohit Sharma's performance has been quite poor. He scored one century, but other than that, he gets out after scoring 2, 3, 4, or 5 runs. He (Rohit Sharma) shouldn’t be in the team. India wins because the other players play well, but the captain doesn’t contribute much..." the TMC MP added.
BCCI secretary lashes out at Congress spokesperson
When Congress spokesman Shama Mohamed referred to India men's team cricket captain Rohit Sharma as "fat" during the March 2 ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match against New Zealand, Devajit Saikia, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), reacted. Shama has removed all of her posts that criticized Rohit for his performances, captaincy, and level of fitness after the outcry. Saikia, the secretary of the BCCI, described these remarks as "derogatory" and careless for her own publicity.
"It is very unfortunate that a responsible person has passed this kind of comment which is very derogratory and damaging to an individual player who is in the middle of an important ICC marquee tournament. All the players in the team are performing exceedingly well and irresponsible statements like these can have some adverse impact," Saikia said in an exclusive interaction with Sports Tak.
"I hope that no responsible person from any important organisation makes this kind of comment for their personal publicity at the risk of damaging the team's performance in the tournament," he added.
