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“Sachin Tendulkar Is An Iyengar, He Tried His Level Best To Make India Lose”, “Cricket Is An ‘Avaal’ Game”, Says Dravidian Ideologue Kantharaj

March 20, 2024
The Commune

Brahmin hate is very often noticed among Dravidianists in Tamil Nadu, they thrive on speaking about Brahmins day in and day out. But a video that was circulating on social media platform X took this to a whole new level.

An interview clipping of Dravidian ideologue Kantharaj, a doctor with a Dravidian ideology is introduced as a political commentator in Take 1’s YouTube video on the “politics” surrounding IPL and cricket presented great misinformation which the anchor herself was agreeing to, no questions asked. 

In the video clipping, Kantharaj talks about India’s 1983 World Cup win and desperate to insert the Brahmin connection makes an erroneous statement where he says Tendulkar is an Iyengar. The transcription/translation of the video is as follows: 

“We won the World Cup for the first time. The match took place in England. Kapil Dev was the captain. Kapil Dev played really well and took us to the finals. Tendulkar gave him so much trouble. Kapil Dev won the matches as a single man. Everyone tried to bring him down, we can see it clearly. Tendulkar tried his level best to make India lose. He is an Iyengar, Kapil Dev, a non-brahmin. He (Kapil) single-handedly scored runs and bowled superbly too. You must see his bowling, he gave his life for it. He said he would not stop without winning.”

He continues to say that following this Kapil Dev was not honoured by the Modi government. He claimed Modi met Tendulkar but not Kapil Dev. The anchor keeps adding in all kinds of narratives by saying only Brahmins were given recognition. 

Let’s do some fact-checking here.

For starters, Sachin was born in 1973 and was 10 years old when India won the World Cup in England. 

Sachin is a Maharashtrian and not a Tamilian or an Iyengar – he belongs to the Saraswat Brahmin community.

Sachin made his World Cup debut in 1992. 

Netizens ridiculed the general knowledge and the memory power of an aging Kantharaj. Here are some reactions.

 

In the video, Kantharaj says none of the players in the team are from North Madras and they indulged in “rough” and “real” games like football. The anchor then claims that it is very difficult for a non-Brhamin to get into the cricket ecosystem but Natarajan managed to break into it. But also alleges that he was removed because of caste. 

Kantharaj talks about a Budhi Kunderan, a Scheduled caste player who created a record by hitting 192 runs on the first day of the test match against England in 1964. However, he was not selected for the subsequent tours. Wikipedia claims he was dropped because his wicket-keeping skills had fallen. Kantharaj creates an illusion that Kundheran never got a chance after this drop. But the truth is that:

  • Budhi Kunderan left his job in the Railways in 1965 to focus on cricket, representing Mysore and the South Zone.
  • Recalled against West Indies in 1966–67, he scored 79 runs in 92 minutes in the Bombay Test.
  • Despite sporadic appearances, he played alongside Engineer in the England tour of 1967, primarily as a batsman.
  • Noted for his aggressive batting, Kunderan’s career included memorable performances against strong opponents like the 1959–60 Australians.
  • After retiring from international cricket, he played professionally in the Lancashire League and Scotland, where he eventually settled.
  • Budhi Kunderan passed away from lung cancer at the age of 66 and was posthumously honoured with a Special Award by the BCCI in June 2018.

Kantharaj continues to say “Cricket is an “avaal” game and that is why it deteriorated over time.” Here avaal is a derogatory term used to denote Brahmins in TN. He also blames the same community for bringing match-fixing into the picture. He claims Tendulkar became a big star in Sharjah cricket matches and was fixed with Dawood Ibrahim. 

Next, the anchor lists down the names of cricketers from TN and points out that they are all from the same community. Kantharaj replies to her saying no one else played cricket, all are from Chennai and hence got selected. He also adds that the media which is controlled by Brahmins created this image for them. 

The anchor then states that despite films showing the cricket board in poor light, they have not made any changes to their behavior and attitude. To this, Kantharaj says they are a strong race and one cannot win over them easily. He adds, “They are not connected to this country, they are “vandheris” (latching on to the Aryan Invasion theory) and the country is in their hands. Even the upcoming elections are in their hands. They don’t have their own land or language but they impose their things on us. We need them for our weddings or funerals. We are unable to change.”

He concludes by saying across the country, across all cricketing boards, caste is an important factor and BCCI is no better than TNCA. 

In a 2022 interview, the same Kantharaj made genocidal comments on Tamil Brahmins. He had said “You better go to your own country. Go there. There only you (Tamil Brahmins) were thrashed by Chengiz Khan and Taimur. You came here whimpering.”

He also derogated Hindu Gods like Lord Ram and Lord Krishna and made scandalous remarks on April 1 being marked as Tamil New Year.

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