I smashed my TV when I saw my daughter perform Hindus’ Aarti: Says Shahid Afridi

An old video of former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has created an outrage among netizens after it went viral on social media. In an interaction hosted by Nida Yasir, on a Pakistani TV channel, Afridi is seen unabashedly making fun of a Hindu ritual; i.e. performing an aarti, and how he broke his television set on seeing his daughter perform the same ritual. The video has surfaced on social media where Afridi can be seen confessing that he smashed a TV at his home after he saw his daughter imitating an ‘aarti’ scene while watching an Indian show. 

In the video, Afridi is asked by a host if he ever broke a TV in his house, to which he answers: “I have broken the TV once. Broke the TV because of my wife. There were a lot of these Star Plus dramas that were quite popular. I used to tell my wife to watch it alone and not let the kids watch. Once I came out of the room and saw one of my kids copying an ‘aarti’ scene while watching a Star Plus show. I looked at her and then smashed the TV into the wall,”

The video was posted by a Twitter user and immediately went viral. Many users took to Twitter to express their wrath. Users attacked the former Pakistani cricketer for his comments. 

Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi is no stranger to controversy. Afridi claimed in the video that he had told his wife many times to watch Indian show alone and not involve the kids. Later, he went on to make fun of the Hindu ritual and told how he broke his TV set after seeing his daughter imitating Hindu ritual from a serial.  “Pata nahi kya karte hai thaali leke yu yu”, he mentioned while gesticulating his hands in a circular motion. He went on to say that he erupted on seeing his daughter’s action and broke the television set in anger.

This comes at a time when a video of former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar went viral, in which he confessed that leg-spinner Danish Kaneria faced discriminated by some Pakistani cricketers because he is Hindu.

Akhtar told in the video clip that some Pakistani cricketers even refused to eat food with Danish Kaneria just because he was Hindu. Kaneria was never given due credit for his performances and was also constantly humiliated by his teammates.

Writer, historian, and activist Dharam Sikarwar is a very active author The Youth. He writes on national and international issues, environment, politics. He is an avid book reader as well.