The BBC was the only significant resource of the news from outside world since my childhood in the late 70s, and I’ve followed it since then. In my opinion Bose is no different than most other BBC journos. Yes, he looks and sounds different in that crowd, and makes pompous statements without elaborating the reasons at times. But, so do most journos universally. May be his age had started speaking up in this case. Sixty is regarded crucial and often ridiculed at in India.

“Like I said, I and plenty of my friends regarded him as bad (while at the BBC at least) – are we allowed an opinion or are we simply racists? Just because it hasn’t convinced you, doesn’t mean no-one else agrees
I think somebody has a chip on their shoulder”

How much and how far would you opposition him (I’ve never accused all Mihir bashers of racism, I remind again)? It is the manner Bose was hounded that prompted me to write this blog post. I didn’t take his views on Team India’s numerous face-offs with the ICC seriously, in the recent years. But, I did agree when he spoke about the BCCI and its ills. The anti-Mihir vitriol has taken epidemic proportions in this particular case. I can even now find posters writing very badly about him (and drowning those disagreeing with them) in various UK forums.

At least, I do not have any chip on my shoulder, which I can assure you. I’ve taken a stand based on my observations and “due-diligence” (not necessarily à la Mihir way )

So basically you say he’s not a bad journalist, therefore them saying he is a bad one is a mask to hide their racism?

Like I said, I and plenty of my friends regarded him as bad (while at the BBC at least) – are we allowed an opinion or are we simply racists? Just because it hasn’t convinced you, doesn’t mean no-one else agrees

I think somebody has a chip on their shoulder

Neither was any rationale for their criticisms that could convince others.

Tarquin,

I hadn’t finished yet, continued to add several responses to my own comment, and it wasn’t meant for you. But, it is relevant, so would reply back to your points.

1- “have you got evidence of any increase in the insults since then”

This is not what I meant by my Stanford reference. You might be true here. But, a continuation of the anti-Mihir sentiments from 2007 does not absolve it of the charges I made. I noticed this drama only a few weeks before my original post.

2- “Why exactly people would attack Mihir because of his race puzzles me.”

On the contrary, the amount of tirade against him puzzled this author and the rest others. Check this out from the way many spoke against the regular moaners on his weblog.

3- “it is somewhat unfair to label a large part of the British population racist because a few dozen people on the net attacked him……….A better theory would perhaps be a conspiracy by the cricket boards in question, a few anonymous posts on a blog would hardly be difficult to set up…”

I did not mean to generalize, I’ve spoken in my last comment. You picked up my quote, before I could edit and respond to you separately. Regarding cricket boards setting up the anti-Mihir posters….I had thought about this and several other factors, including that of a political bias as against the racist one. But, the way Mihir was increasingly being hooted down by some posters did not augur well.

4- “There seems to be little grounding to base this racism charge on – this is a well-respected journalist who has been writing about cricket and sport for over 30 years in Britain”

I read him speak about the racism he had to face on British football grounds, while describing how meager that was compared to the Polish one.

5- “I just don’t get the reasoning behind this racism charge – have you ever been to Britain? Is there a huge racism issue I am not aware of? You seem to say attacking him is racist because of your experiences in a foreign country, which seems a little unfair to those people”

Racism is not a huge issue in the UK, but it could not be ignored either. Take a look at any online forum with a sizable Non Resident Indian membership from the UK, and you will know more about it.

To others,
Kindly, keep it simple. Your presence is valued by this blogger, despite the controversy surrounding this subject.

—

I’d be intrigued as to what made you come to this decision, you say it became worse after the Stanford affair – I know that was pretty recent, and I also know that the criticism of Bose was going on long before this, I was doing it myself back in 2007 – have you got evidence of any increase in the insults since then?

Why exactly people would attack Mihir because of his race puzzles me – if indeed, you say they are attacking him because he stuck his nose into the cricket world it seems odd for them to pick on him for his race – why not just pick on him for sticking his nose in, as a journalist, why is race suddenly brought into it?

Also if this is true, it is somewhat unfair to label a large part of the British population racist because a few dozen people on the net attacked him – for one, cricket is not a huge issue in Britain, you may not understand this as in India it’s massive – and I know a fair few commentators on there are football fans who happened across his blogs and didn’t like them – not a lot of average brits would be very interested in someone’s investigation into cricket – a better theory would perhaps be a conspiracy by the cricket boards in question, a few anonymous posts on a blog would hardly be difficult to set up…

There seems to be little grounding to base this racism charge on – this is a well-respected journalist who has been writing about cricket and sport for over 30 years in Britain, he is well-known and there are many Indian (and Australian) cricket pundits in our country – has he ever felt particularly abused?

I just don’t get the reasoning behind this racism charge – have you ever been to Britain? Is there a huge racism issue I am not aware of? You seem to say attacking him is racist because of your experiences in a foreign country, which seems a little unfair to those people – if you’ve read pretty much any BBC blog you will see a lot of negative comments, you might as well be saying attacks on Nick Robinson are because he wears glasses

And to all those who try to sabotage the debate by accusing the language part, well….I had originally used the term “British idiocy” for Mihir bashers in my above post, which was gross generalization, and I had to remove it. Would like to reintroduce the reference to “idiocy” part for Bob’s sake though. That augurs well for morons like him, and also makes my job of moderating this blog easier by removing my civil facade. (unfortunately, can’t tread beyond this incivility either)!

To others,

I was amused at some of the keywords you have chosen to land here. It gave an indication of the insecurities you might have.

@ Tarquin and James,

“It seems a tad harsh to criticise all of Bose’s critics as racists” – Tarquin

Tarquin, I didn’t accuse everyone. I accused only those who had a sickening habit of following Bose everywhere just to remind him of how poorly he wrote. One wonders how much spare time did they have to do this job! It indicated the ailment, I wrote about above, they had been suffering from. Ironically, my interest in Bose grew only after having noticed this drama by his readers. Otherwise, he could be a good or a bad writer/ reporter, who cares about that.

James, I don’t necessarily see it that way, and mind you, I thought a great deal about it before coming up with the hidden-racism charge. I know, it is a serious charge in the UK. But, I live in a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic society that has its own racist, communal and hateful overtures to be concerned about, and I think I caught very rightly the subtle racist overtures in Mihir bashing this time.

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PS – For “bad English” moaners…. The only reason a large section of the multi-ethnic world communicates in English is, due to its practical usefulness and not due to any love for it. Besides, this isn’t the BBC funded by your tax-money, as previously stated, and this should get through your thick heads. I doubt it would though, looking at your sickening history.