Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed was on the receiving end earlier this week for body-shaming Rohit Sharma. Even though she clarified her stance on the matter later, she was criticised a lot. Vinesh Phogat has also reacted to the matter opining that players should be kept away from politics.
Vinesh Phogat, Indian wrestler-turned-politician, has reacted to the controversy involving the Indian cricket team’s captain, Rohit Sharma, who was in the news recently after Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed body-shamed him. She also called him the ‘most unimpressive captain ever’ only to find herself at the receiving end of all the criticism.
Phogat has also opened up on the matter, stating that the players and athletes should be kept away from politics. “Even though I am from Congress party only, I feel that the players should be kept away from politics because an athlete is always an athlete,” Phogat who was extremely close to winning the gold medal for India at the Paris Olympics last year, only to be disqualified at the last moment, said.
For the unversed, Shama Mohamed had defended her comments, saying that her comment was in a generic sense and she had no intention to deliberately body shame Rohit Sharma. “It was a generic tweet about the fitness of a sportsperson. It was not body-shaming. I always believed a sportsperson should be fit, and I felt he was a bit overweight, so I just tweeted about that. I have been attacked for no reason. When I compared him with previous captains, I put in a statement. I have the right. What is wrong in saying that? It is a democracy,” she had said.
Even the BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia condemned her comments while questioning the timing of it as well with India being in the middle of the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai. “It’s very unfortunate that this kind of remark for our captain (Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma) has come from a person who is on a responsible post, especially at a time when Team India is playing an ICC tournament and the team is all set to play the semi-final match,” Saikia said.
