Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri, who holds the record for the most international goals scored by an Indian, faced racist comments from a user during his Instagram Live chat with Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli. Chhetri and Kohli, who share a great bond, were involved in a freewheeling chat on Monday and the camaraderie between the two was out there for the fans to see.
But one user by the name yashsharma.official commented on the live video and wrote “Ye Nepali kon h”. The remark is extremely disrespectful for a player who is certain to go down in the annals of Indian football and sports as a legend. Chhetri himself has been very vocal against racism.
Last month, when citizens from the north-eastern part of India were subjected to racist remarks, Chhetri had condemned the incidents. “The people who are doing it, and who understand the difference, are just ignorant. It’s just not right. You shouldn’t do it,” Chhetri had said in an interview to The Quint.
The entire incident has not gone down well with Chhetri’s fans who took to social media and slammed the user.
A Twitter user shared a screenshot of the Instagram live chat with the comment and condemned the racist attitude towards people from the North-East, specifying the derogatory words that are frequently used for them in some other parts of India.
India is one of the most racist country.
The Indian football captain is called Nepali can only imagine the plight of North East people here. People not knowing Chhetri is still fine. But society has sort of normalised chinki, Nepali etc towards them.
It's shameful. pic.twitter.com/m8v14kOrTu— Abhinav kaka (@kabhinav08) May 18, 2020
Here is what fans had to say in support of Sunil Chhetri.
We are sorry bhai, Sunil sir and All NE's are our brothers!
Sunil Chhetri is god of football!
— Baa Baa Black Sheep. (@KaaliSheep) May 19, 2020
Kids should be educated about diversity among people and culture. North East is just mentioned. It deserves much more attention than that. There is a lack of awareness. Sadly we know very little about the North East of our own country.
— Gunj🙏🇮🇳 (@gunjanm) May 18, 2020
The Instagram user’s handle has been deactivated as a result.