The Netherlands are playing host nation India in the Cricket World Cup, a tournament with a political flavor

The Dutch cricket team will play in the World Cup from 9.30 am against India, the host country and the favorite for the world title. The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in south Bangalore, with a capacity of 40,000, has been sold out. The match can be seen live online on NOS.

The weather is good during the match, but one slogan that is heard over and over causes a lot of confusion: Jai Shri Ram. This is a Hindu salute praising the god Ram, but it has been used more as a Hindu warrior cry in recent years.

The slogan was heard in the stadiums in several matches, even when India did not play at all. There was much debate about the slogan, especially after the match against arch-rivals Pakistan in October. This was said to have been booed directly by Pakistani players and fans after India’s victory, which was interpreted by critics as a Hindu nationalist attack on Muslim players. The Pakistan Cricket Association lodged a formal complaint with the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the ‘inappropriate behaviour’ of Indian fans.

There was also criticism in India. The local sports minister, Udhavanidhi Stalin from the state of Tamil Nadu, called the use of the slogan a low point in the history of cricket. In television debates, commentators pointed out the aggressive and anti-Islamic nature of the slogan. The slogan is also often shouted during riots between Hindus and Muslims and Muslim victims of violence and Hindus are often forced to shout the slogan.

Some saw the criticism as double-edged, because the Pakistani player started praying on the field during the drinks break during the match against the Netherlands.

However, what gave the slogan more meaning during the match against Pakistan was the location. The match was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, named after India’s Hindu nationalist prime minister. With a capacity of 132,000, it is the largest cricket stadium in the world and is located in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, where it was built on his initiative. There has never been a stadium in India named after a sitting politician. The final on November 19 will also be held here and is already sold out.

Parliamentary elections will be held in India next spring. Modi has a good chance of a third term as prime minister. “The World Cup will be a six-week election campaign,” sports journalist Barney Ronay wrote before the World Cup in the British newspaper The Guardian. He described the short lines of communication between Modi’s BJP party and the Indian cricket board BCCI, whose boss, Jay Shah, is the son of Modi’s right-hand man and Home Minister Amit Shah. “It’s not hard to make these connections. It’s obvious. Is this cricket? Or is it government advertising?”

God Ram is important to BJP. The construction of the controversial Ram temple, on the site of a centuries-old mosque, is one of the party’s main campaign issues. The BJP aims to create a Hindu state in India, which was established as a secular state after independence from the British in 1947.

India is also home to over 200 million Muslims and a minority of Christians. That is why the call is made Jai Shri Ram more than the expression of religion. It is seen as a politically charged, cynical expression of the Hindu rule that the BJP stands for. The slogan was also shouted in parliament after BJP’s election victory.

In cricket, it is not only a nationalistic slogan, meant to celebrate the Indian team, too. In March, during an international match against Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Indian fans booed one of the two Muslim players in the home team, Mohammed Shami.

There is not much resistance. Few foreign fans have traveled to India, even from cricketing giants like England and Australia. There were criticisms of the vague arrangements: the original schedule was revised, tickets went on sale late and online sales from outside India were very difficult. “For the everyday fan, however dedicated, there was too much uncertainty,” concluded the Sydney Morning Herald.

There are almost no fans from Pakistan at all, because they did not get an Indian visa. Pakistani journalists received their visas very late. Pakistan Cricket Association also filed a complaint regarding this. In the past, cricket was sometimes used as a diplomatic tool to seek rapprochement. Now the relationship between India and Pakistan is so bad that this has not been attempted.

Absence of foreign fans makes no difference in BJP’s election campaign. Indian fans get louder in every match, and polarization works better for the BJP than rapprochement. The Jai Shri Ramthe sound is a sign of Modi’s popularity among cricket fans – which can only increase if the Indian team lifts the World Cup at the Narendra Modi Stadium.