Think of no religion, no caste but only humanity: Harbhajan Singh
Under-fire Indian cricketers stand by their ground to support Afridi’s foundation
Dubai: Harbhajan Singh, the ace Indian off-spinner who was attacked in social media along with former teammate Yuvraj Singh for supporting the cause of Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi’s charity, chose against going for any verbal retort. Instead, he took to twitter to send across a message to rise above religion, caste and serve the humanity.
“No religion, no cast, only humanity...that’s what it is...stay safe stay home...spread love not hate or virus...let’s pray for every single one...May Waheguru bless us all,” wrote ‘Bhajji’ along with a video showing Sikhs preparing and distributing food to needy in England. The Sikh community, historically, are known to join forces to serve the affected people by preparing food in langar (community kitchen) after natural calamities like flood or earthquakes.
Incidentally, India’s legendary allrounder Kapil Dev - a member of the community - had authored a coffee table book called ‘We The Sikhs’ last year - where he chronicled their contribution to the society.
Earlier, Yuvraj said that by asking for help for Shahid Afridi foundation, he didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and all he tried was to help people suffering due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“I really don’t understand how a message to help the most vulnerable people gets blown out of proportion! All I tried to achieve through that message was to help people in our own respective countries by providing healthcare, my intention was not to hurt anyone’s feelings,” Yuvraj said in a message posted on his Twitter handle on Wednesday.
“I’m an Indian and I will always bleed blue and will always stand for humanity. Jai Hind,” he added.
The stir started on social media on Tuesday when Yuvraj and Harbhajan Singh decided to appeal to help Afridi’s foundation in Pakistan to help those in need during the pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives across the world.
“These are testing times, it’s time to lookout for each other specially the ones who are lesser fortunate. Let’s do our bit, I am supporting Shahid Afridi and Shahid Afridi Foundation in this noble initiative of COVID-19. Please donate on donatekarona.com,” Yuvraj had tweeted tagging Harbhajan.
Harbhajan had also praised Afridi for the valuable social work he was doing in these trying circumstances - with both being pilloried in the social media as ‘anti-nationals.’