Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, a Muslim wed to a Pakistani cricketer, broke down in tears Friday after being described by a Hindu nationalist politician as “Pakistan’s daughter-in-law” and unfit to be an Indian representative.
Mirza, 27, who is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, wiped away tears as she told India’s NDTV network she was tired of continually being forced to defend her “Indian-ness”.
“I am a very patriotic person that is why I am so emotional right now,” Mirza, who wed Malik in 2010, said in the interview aired on television.
In comments reported earlier this week by local media, K. Laxman, a regional legislator belonging to the national ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), questioned the credentials of Mirza to be “brand ambassador” for the country’s newest state Telengana in southern India.
Laxman was quoted as saying Mirza’s marriage to Malik made her a “daughter-in-law” of Pakistan, India’s Muslim neighbour and nuclear-armed rival with which the mainly Hindu but officially secular country has fought three wars.
Mirza, who has played for India at all major-level sporting events, has been defended by leaders across the political spectrum, including BJP members who said its party member’s comment did not reflect its official stance.
“After winning medals for India after I got married, (I) don’t know why I have to keep justifying that I am Indian,” Mirza told NDTV.