Its often been said that there are two Indias. Its taken to mean that there is an India of the cities and an India of the villages, of prosperity and poverty, of mall goers and cattle grazers. But in a different sense, there are, in fact, two Indias. For the term India has come to mean two things. One is the Indian nation, comprising of all its people and the government. The other is the Indian cricket team or Team India as its fondly called. While the two Indias in the traditional sense co-exist despite being in continuous conflict, the two Indias in this sense is supportive of each other. This is because Team India has, over the years, come to represent and symbolize the Indian nation. And nothing and nobody symbolizes Indian cricket like Sachin Tendulkar. Cricket and hence Tendulkar (or is it the other way around?) has had a significant role to play in the formation of the idea of India, at least in the last couple of decades.
The very mention of the word India is often assumed to mean the Indian cricket team. I still remember the days when as I young boy I used to listen to Doordarshan news to check whether India had won a particular match. Whenever the newsreader mentioned the word India, I would get excited for I assumed she was speaking of India;s match. It was confusing and disappointing to realize that she was in fact speaking of some agreement India had entered with another country or how India was planning to eradicate polio.
The pre-match show in Times Now had the headline “India for India”. It might appear confusing for others but every Indian knew what the two Indias meant. It simply meant that India (the nation) was rooting for India (the cricket team).
After the world cup victory, LK Advani was on the phone line in CNN IBN speaking of how the match would help Indian nationalism and patriotism and develop respect for the national anthem and national flag. (And perhaps convert such passionate nationalism into Hindu nationalism)
That Indian cricket has contributed to national unity and integrity is a fact that no one would contend. War would perhaps come a close second to cricket when we list out the things that unite India. Most cricket fans hope that IPL will not join the politics of religion, region, caste and class as the things that divide India.
Its ironic that despite inherent connections between Team India and the Indian nation, the Indian cricket team is by law not playing for India. Its playing for a charitable society registered in Tamil Nadu under a colonial legislation. BCCI has no affiliation to the Sports Ministry or the Government of India in any way and hence the Supreme Court also felt that it cannot be held to be part of the Indian state.
But what the Supreme Court says or Government thinks hardly matters to the public as there is nothing more representative of India than its cricket team. Saturday was one of those rare moments in which the Indian team was not merely representative of India but came to define the will of an entire nation. The two Indias had become one. And many other competing ideas of India had also become one. India had become India.
