Times Of India Story creates controversy with TOI deciding to use a picture of Virender Sehwag and his wife Aarti as the feature in an article of cricketers marrying their cousins
Times of India has created controversy by mentioning the name of India’s former opening batter Virendra Sehwag. The story on Google is about the list of cricketers who have married their cousins.
The story was published on 19th January 2022. The heading of the story is ‘5 cricketers who married their cousin’, while the picture of Virendra Sehwag and his wife Aarti Ahlawat has been used as background.
Under the heading of ‘Love Prevails’, TOI has stated, “There are few cricketers who broke the boundaries of family relations and fell in love with their cousins or distant relatives. Take a look!”
Times Of India Decides To Name Virender Sehwag And Use His Image For No Rhyme Or Reason
The last name on the list is India’s destructive opening batter Virender Sehwag who has married Aarti Ahlawat. If the truth be told, she was never Viru’s cousin. TOI has said that Viru’s cousin got married to Aarti’s aunt. But that doesn’t mean Viru and Aarti are cousins.
While Sehwag’s name was included in the list for something which he and his cousin decided to do has left people in angst. This isn’t the first time that mainstream media in India has decided to peddle its propaganda and try to paint Hindus and Hindu cricketers in an appalling light.
This is CRAZY. In an article, 5 Cricketers who Married their Cousins, @timesofindia mentions 4 muslim cricketers, but then adds @virendersehwag because "his wife’s aunt married his cousin". How the hell does that make Veeru and his wife genetically related?https://t.co/zdFrfL9ovc
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) January 22, 2022
Many are now slamming TOI for their obsession with ‘Secularism’. They could have added the name of a cricketer from Bangladesh Mosaddek Hossain who had married his cousin Sharmin Samira Usha. But then this story would have been all about the names from the same community, which would have disturbed the equilibrium that TOI needs.
So to make it more ‘balanced’, they have unnecessarily added Sehwag and his wife’s names in this useless story. Despite Sehwag being falsely named in an article, there has been no hue and cry from cricketers or Bollywood personalities and India’s left-leaning society which was losing its marbles after false Pakistani accounts were abusing Mohammed Shami on Twitter.
Maybe because Sehwag is an unapologetic nationalist, someone who has never shied from making his feelings blatantly clear. Wonder if Anushka Sharma is going to throw her weight behind him and write an article on Instagram supporting him.
Four Cricketers Who Have Married Their Cousins
The first one on the list is Pakistan’s former captain and controversial figure Shahid Afridi. This former Pakistani skipper married Nadia in 2000. Nadia is the daughter of the maternal Uncle of Shahid. Obviously, she was Shahid’s cousin before their marriage. Shahid has 5 daughters with Nadia. Their eldest daughter Aqsa has engaged with the current left-hand fast bowling sensation of Pakistan, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Saeed Anwar, another Pakistan player, has married his cousin Lubna. She is a doctor by profession.
The only Bangladeshi player that TOI has on their list is left-arm magician Mustafizur Rahman. ‘Fizz’ got married to his maternal cousin Samia Parvin. Samia is a psychology student at Dhaka University.
Babar Azam is the current captain of Pakistan. Though he is yet to marry, many sources have confirmed in 2021 that he is all set to marry his cousin.