Watching a nation of fewer than 50,000 people—a country appearing in its first-ever FIFA World Cup—pushing the reigning champions to the brink for 110 minutes was a masterclass in what a focused, unified society can achieve. For nearly two hours of grueling football, it was a 2-2 draw. It was a display of heart, strategy, and collective effort. I’m not from there, but I found myself wishing I was.
It’s a stark, painful contrast to the state of Indian football, where we’ve somehow mastered the art of losing to Nepal and Bangladesh in the qualifying rounds.
It makes you wonder: why can a tiny island nation foster the discipline and unity required to compete on the world stage, while a country of over a billion people is instead preoccupied with tearing itself apart?
The answer, unfortunately, is as visible as it is tragic. While other nations are investing in their youth and their infrastructure, our most "famous" influencers—those with millions of followers and pockets lined with YouTube ad revenue—are running a masterclass in professionalized bigotry.
They’ve discovered that teaching hatred toward minorities, and manufacturing venom for our neighbors in Pakistan and Bangladesh, is far more profitable than talking about why our national team can’t beat Nepal. The BJP has weaponized this, injecting a slow-acting poison into the minds of the electorate to win elections by keeping everyone at each other's throats.
When you look at the follower counts on these hate-spewing channels, you start to fear the country has gone completely insane. An uneducated, frustrated population is being fed a steady diet of hysteria because it’s easier to control people who have lost the ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
It’s a brilliant, cynical strategy for the party in power, but it’s a suicide pact for the country. We are trading our potential, our global standing, and our social fabric for the temporary high of religious division.
Sometimes, I look at that scoreboard—Cape Verde 2, Argentina 3—and I don't just see a football match. I see a mirror reflecting everything we aren't, and I find myself wondering exactly where this path is leading us.
Given that you see this diversion of national energy as the primary barrier to India reaching its potential, do you see any realistic pathway—perhaps through intellectual or civic leadership—for the country to reclaim a narrative based on merit and unity rather than division?
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