New elected MP Gautam Gambhir shares his views on Gurugram religious oppression incident

Gautam Gambhir has been making headlines for quite some time now. After an unprecedented electoral victory in the East Delhi constituency as a Member of Parliament, the cricketer-turned-politician voiced out for religious and caste oppressed people. The 37-year-old former India cricketer took to Twitter on Monday by condemning the acts of attack based on caste and religion in Gurugram, said his idea of secularism emanates from the words of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who recently stressed on “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sab ka Viswas (to be with all, to be for everyone’s development, to be for everyone’s belief)”.

Gambhir made a reference to Gurugram where a Muslim man was beaten up by miscreants after allegedly asking him to remove his skullcap and chant “Jai Shri Ram”. The incident happened in the night of May 25, the same day Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who renewed his mandate on May 23, asked his newly elected MPs to reach out to the minorities in a speech in the Central Hall of the Parliament. Recently, three persons, including a woman, were thrashed in Madhya Pradesh on suspicion that they were transporting beef.

My thoughts on secularism emanate from honourable PM Mr Modi’s mantra “सबका साथ, सबका विकास, सब का विश्वास”. I am not limiting myself to Gurugram incident alone, any oppression based on caste/religion is deplorable. Tolerance & inclusive growth is what idea of India is based on.

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 27, 2019

In his tweet, Gambhir said that he was not limiting himself to the Gurugram incident alone and condemned any oppression based on caste and religion. “Tolerance & inclusive growth is what idea of India is based on,” he wrote.

Gambhir sought action against Gurugram attackers

In another tweet, the former sportsperson had said that the incident in Gurugram was deplorable and sought exemplary action from the local authorities. However, he was bashed by many right-wing supporters who accused him of being selective and not tweeting on all incidents. Gambhir’s tweet on his inspiration from Modi’s message on inclusiveness was more of a response to the trolls that he faced over his first tweet.

“In Gurugram Muslim man told to remove skullcap,chant Jai Shri Ram”.
It is deplorable. Exemplary action needed by Gurugram authorities. We are a secular nation where @Javedakhtarjadu writes “ओ पालन हारे, निर्गुण और न्यारे” & @RakeyshOmMehra gave us d song “अर्ज़ियाँ” in Delhi 6.

— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 27, 2019

Gambhir joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in March and got the ticket to contest from East Delhi constituency in the just-concluded Lok Sabha election. He got almost seven lakh votes and defeated his nearest opponent Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress by 3.9 lakh votes. Gambhir’s vote-share was over 55 per cent. The former cricketer with over 10k runs in international cricket is only the second former World Cup-winning player after Kirti Azad to have become a member of the Lok Sabha.