India beat Pakistan in the World Cup cricket match at Adelaide yesterday, but I see no reason to celebrate.
I regard cricket as one of the opiums of the Indian masses, the others being politics ( which has gone down to the lowest level in India ), filmstars, religion, astrology, etc. Evidently one opium is not enough to keep the Indian masses in a state of intoxication, soseveral are required.
The real problems in India are socio-economic---massive poverty and unemployment, large scale malnutrition ( affecting about 50% of Indian children ), almost total absence of healthcare and good education for the poorer section of our people ( who are 75% of our 1250 million population ), farmers' suicides, discrimination against women, minorities and dalits, etc.
Cricket and the other opiums mentioned above divert the attention of our people from these real issues, and attempt to depict non issues like winning a cricket match as the real issue.,
So the real issue before the the Indian people is not how to abolish poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, etc. The real issue is whether India has beaten New Zealand ( or better still, Pakistan ) in a cricket match. or whether Virat Kohli has scored a century.
So please do celebrate India's victory over Pakistan as much as you like, but don't expect me to join
in the celebrations. I refuse to be part of this stupid pantomime. Such celebrations are an insult to the poor people in India, who constitute 75% of our population, as they divert the attention of the people from the real problems facing India, and I refuse to insult my people.
