Cricket weaponised: Modi’s dangerous trivialisation of war

Sushant Singh is a lecturer in South Asian studies at Yale University and consulting editor with The Caravan magazine in India. He served in the Indian Army for more than two decades.

Indian military briefing on Operation Sindoor in May

For readers of Cricket et al, few things matter more than cricket. Even for them, loss of life and limb would certainly rank higher. It was thus deeply disturbing when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted his message on X after India won the Asia Cup: “#OperationSindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same - India wins! Congrats to our cricketers”. This wasn’t merely tone-deaf celebration. It represented something far more sinister; the deliberate equation of sporting triumph with military conflict, treating cricket victory as an extension of actual warfare where people die.

Operation Sindoor was no game. Launched by India on 7 May after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians, it involved coordinated strikes across the Line of Control and deeper inside Pakistan. Over 50 Pakistanis died, including 40 civilians and 11 soldiers. Tens of Indians on the Line of Control lost their homes and lives in the conflict. Many Indian soldiers perished too, some acknowledged only when the Indian Air Force Chief visited the grieving family. Others lost limbs, recognised only after the IAF chief’s visit to the Armed Forces Limb Centre in Pune. By invoking this operation to celebrate a cricket match, Modi trivialised genuine sacrifice and genuine grief.