Social media platform X witnessed an acrimonious war of words between BJP leader Gaurav Bhatia and former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria in the last few days over the behaviour of Indian fans at World Cup matches. Gaurav Bhatia trended on X for his reply to Danish Kaneria, a Pakistani Hindu who slammed a Muslim journalist for her ‘feeling ashamed’ post.

The journalist made a post on Sunday condemning the behaviour of Indian cricket fans during the World Cup matches. “Deplorable behaviour of many cricket fans during World Cup matches, makes me feel embarrassed & ashamed as an Indian. This petty, insecure & majoritarian approach towards sports which was meant to bring people together, is symbolic of India Modi-RSS have created in last one decade,” the journalist wrote.

To this, Kaneria wrote: “Come to my country Pakistan if you are feeling ashamed to be an Indian. India doesn’t need people like you. I am sure many people in India will be happy to sponsor this trip.”

The fiery exchange turned into a major controversy as several users commented on the Muslim journalist’s ‘anti-India tweet’ and the journalist said Kaneria unleashed a ‘lynch mob’ against her.

BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia stepped in and said though he did not condone the journalist’s tweet, he will stand by her as she is a fellow Indian. “Mr Danish Kaneria it would be nice if you could put your house in order first. Arfa criticized our country, wrongly so, but our relationship is not defined by the religion we profess but by the country we love, our Bharat. Even when there is very little in common with her, I decide to stand with a fellow Indian over the common faith we both have. This will surely go a long way to show to every citizen that the bond of love for our country should always be stronger than the bond of religion. Never ever dare to trouble a fellow Indian otherwise you will also be thrown out of the arena like the cricket ball,” Gaurav Bhatia said.

Gaurav Bhatia’s support for the Muslim journalist did not go down well with the social media users either as they questioned how the BJP leader went against the former Pakistani cricketer who was supporting India.

Indian fans chanted Jai Shri Ram during the India-Pakistan match on October 14 at Ahmedabad when Pakistan’s Mohammed Rizwan was out. Several opposition political leaders condemned it. On October 19, Bangladeshi superfan Shoaib Ali was harassed in Pune after India defeated Bangladesh.

The journalist’s tweet came in the backdrop of these incidents.

“I was born in Pakistan, played for Pakistan and proud to be a Pakistani. Some cheap people discriminated against me, but I can’t blame all for this. I can’t abuse my country. Yes, If anything goes wrong with my community I will keep raising voice for them,” Danish Kaneria wrote clarifying his stance — as the verbal spat went on.