Cricketer Suresh Raina has caused a stir online after he said “I am a Brahmin” during his commentary of the Tamil Nadu Premier League.
Raina was asked by a commentator how he has embraced the Chennai culture as he has been seen wearing a ‘veshti‘, dancing and whistling. In reply, the CSK left-hander said “I think I’m also Brahmin. I have been playing since 2004 in Chennai,”. The cricketer further said that he loves his team and the culture in Chennai
Raina is a batsman with the Indian Premier League team, Chennai Super Kings.
After the cricketer made these comments, several social media users reacted strongly to the controversial remark.
The video of his comment was shared by a user who questioned the fact that Raina replied to a question about Chennai culture by saying that he is a brahmin.
What is the need to say “I am also Brahmin” when the question is about Chennai culture??
So you indirectly saying others are “Shuthras” ??@ImRaina#SureshRaina #TNPL2021 pic.twitter.com/r54691rRV0
— AR 😎😷 (@i_am_ar__) July 22, 2021
A Twitter user Sankul Sonawane said that while the athletes around the world are uniting for Black Lives Matter, the upper caste cricketers in India are being casteist.
Indian cricketer Suresh Raina casually takes pride in his Brahmin caste. Yuvraj & Ashwin used casteist slurs, Jadeja & Dhawan have shown caste pride. While all athletes around the world are uniting for Black Lives Matter, UC cricketers are still casteisthttps://t.co/7Aj5ooJU0j
— Sankul Sonawane (@Sankul333) July 20, 2021
Another user reacted to Raina’s video which has now been removed and said that he was proud of Raina, however, now he is sad about his ignorance.
So watched the video, I once liked Raina very much and now im sad how ignorant or he has been hiding all these days. Lost it! No more respect
— vijay renganathan (@MarineRenga) July 20, 2021
Reacting to the video, one user also said that Chennai culture is usually projected as the Tamil Brahmin culture and perhaps Raina said that he is a brahmin to get closer to its fans.
Chennai culture is usually projected as Tamil Brahmin culture in some circles, Chennai Express etc.
Filter coffee, Mylapore, Curs Rice with Maggi. Maybe Raina thought that this will help him get close to fans. https://t.co/ZihzCyilaI
— dhadibaby (@Eevera) July 20, 2021
Suresh, another Twitter user reacted strongly to the video and said that Raina should be ashamed of himself. He also said that it seems like Raina has never experienced the real culture of Chennai.
@ImRaina you should be ashamed yourself.
It seems that you have never experienced real Chennai culture though you have been playing many years for Chennai team. https://t.co/ZICLRr0ZLh
— Suresh (@suresh010690) July 19, 2021
A Twitter user Uday shared a GIF from Bahubali of Katappa and said that Raina should not have used that word.
What the heck @ImRaina sir.. you shouldn’t use that word ….. https://t.co/v8AD1Cp0fT pic.twitter.com/TltPoMbYec
— udayyyyyy 👨🏻💻👨🏻💼👨🏻🍳🏋️ (@uday0035) July 19, 2021