Saffron a proud Indian colour, happy to wear it: Shashi Tharoor

Congress leader and MP from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Shashi Tharoor has shared his views on the Indian team saffron jersey in the ICC World Cup, which the team sported during its match against England.

Sharing his remarks, Tharoor said that saffron is a proud Indian colour and the Indian cricket team wore it abiding by the International Council of Cricket (ICC) rules in its match against England which was held on June 30.

Further speaking on the matter, Shashi Tharoor said that according to a new ICC rule this world cup, if two teams having similar coloured jersey were playing against each other then the guest team would have to sport jersey with a different colour. Therefore, Team India sported a different colour jersey against its match against England, since both teams have blue jerseys.

The Congress leader, who was in attendance at the stadium during India vs England match, said him wearing a saffron jacket was out of support for the Indian cricket team. 

Responding to a query on 'Indian team saffron jersey controversy' asked by a person who attended his lecture on "The Great India Novel", Tharoor said why should he surrender saffron to any political conviction. 

The Thiruvananthapuram MP said that saffron is a very proud Indian colour and it is also one of the three colours of the Indian flag, therefore, he was happy to wear it. 

India's saffron jersey became a matter of a big controversy as several opposition leaders accused the government of saffronisation the sports. However, they were rebutted by BJP leaders who said that opposition leaders' comments were myopic and reactionary.

(With inputs from PTI)