Why I Asked Sachin That Question

Open’s Sports Editor Akshay Sawai has been getting a lot of attention ever since he asked Tendulkar that question. His confessions.

On 13 November, two days before he completed twenty years in international cricket, Sachin Tendulkar met journalists at a hotel in Bandra. It was to be an informal discussion about his career.

He had already spoken about the milestone to most of India’s leading publications by then. I assumed, therefore, that on this day, he would accept, if not welcome, a few questions that went beyond cricket. Sachin is not just a cricketer, after all. What this great sporting exemplar says carries weight in India. It can make people think.

Being Maharashtrian, I had for long been curious about what Sachin, also Maharashtrian, thought about the violent tussle over the ownership of Mumbai. This was my chance.

Sachin walked into the room, clad in black except for the outsized buckle on his belt, which was silver. He looked like he’d rather be elsewhere. He had said everything and would now have to say it again. For the first 45 minutes, the discussion was about cricket. Then, the coordinator said, “Last three questions.”

The coordinator called my name. I spoke.

“Sachin, this is not a cricket question. But it’s an important question.”

He nodded.

“You are a role model for Maharashtrians. According to you, who does Mumbai belong to?”

Sachin, who abhors controversy, looked surprised. But not stunned or angry.  “Mumbai,” he said, “belongs to India. I’m a Maharashtrian. I’m extremely proud of being Maharashtrian. But I’m an Indian.”

The statement made instant headlines all over the place. For two days, journalists called me to check facts. The other night, as I was having dinner, Raj Thackeray called. He wanted to know exactly what I’d asked and exactly what Sachin had said. Because Raj’s party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, had taken Sachin’s answer as a snub. Then I was told that Sachin felt “very, very hurt” by my question.

“Why did you have to drag him into a controversy on an occasion like this?” a friend asked. “Just to sell copies?”

The answer is ‘no’. I work for a weekly. By the time we carried the interview, it would have appeared in news dailies and on TV channels.

I asked him the question because I sincerely wanted to know his stand on the Marathi issue. The question, I told my friend, was a sign of the respect I feel for Sachin. It was proof of his stature. His views on things even other than cricket matter.

cricketMaharashtraSachin Tendulkar