Racism not restricted to colour of skin, religious discrimination is also part of it: Irfan Pathan

Former Team India cricketer Irfan Pathan stated that racism is not restricted to just the colour of the skin. Irfan said that stopping someone from doing something just because he followed a different faith is also a type of racism.

Also read: Cricket not free of racism, I too was a victim: Chris Gayle stands with 'Black Lives Matter'

Pathan took to Twitter: "Racism is not restricted to the colour of the skin. Not allowing to buy a home in a society just because u have a different faith is a part of racism too... #convenient #racism."

The killing of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis last month triggered mass protests around the country and reignited the racism debate world over.

The cricketers include West Indians Chris Gayle and Darren Sammy, who has alleged that he was racially abused by some of his Sunrisers Hyderabad teammates during the 2014 IPL.

“I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people,” Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

“This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for Sunrisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people,” he added.

On the issue of racism, Irfan recently gave a statement saying that brothers from Southern India sometimes face taunts during domestic matches: "I have seen that in domestic cricket, some of our brothers who come from South India, when they come to play domestic matches in North or West India, they do sometimes get taunts, generally in first-class matches, you see a smaller crowd and when there is a smaller crowd, there is always one guy who is trying to be a joker, who is trying to be famous, he will just want to direct jibes at players and as a result, he crosses the line," Pathan told ANI.

Pathan, who retired from all forms of the game earlier this year, played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20s.

(With inputs from agencies)