Team India skipper Rohit Sharma has often found himself at the receiving end of criticism regarding his fitness and movement on the field. Despite being one of India’s go-to players over the years, he is often fat-shamed by netizens especially when he performs poorly with the bat.
But, Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed took it another level, taking to X to call Sharma “fat” and an “unimpressive captain” in a now-deleted post. She was responding to a post praising the Indian captain, where she questioned what was “world-class” about Sharma when compared to his predecessors, including Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Kapil Dev, and Ravi Shastri.
Congress distanced itself from the remark as the issue soon turned political, with BJP leaders jumping to Sharma’s defence and slamming the party for ridiculing the World Cup-winning Indian captain. Congress directed Shama to delete the post, and also asked her to exercise greater caution in future.
The Congress leader defended her comment, saying it was a “generic tweet” about the fitness of a sportsperson and that it was not body-shaming.
#WATCH | On her comment on Indian Cricket team captain Rohit Sharma, Congress leader Shama Mohammed says, "It was a generic tweet about the fitness of a sportsperson. It was not body-shaming. I always believed a sportsperson should be fit, and I felt he was a bit overweight, so I… pic.twitter.com/OBiLk84Mjh
— ANI (@ANI) March 3, 2025
The remark did not go down well with the BCCI, too. Board secretary Devajit Saikia, while talking to ANI, said it was unfortunate that a person holding a responsible post would make such a remark against Sharma, especially when he is leading the Indian team in an ICC tournament.
Who is Dr Shama Mohamed?
A dentist by profession, Shama Mohamed is the national spokesperson of the Congress party. She was born on May 17, 1973, near New Mahe in Kerala.
She completed her schooling in Kuwait, and returned to India to pursue a Bachelor of Dental Sciences at Yenepoya University, Mangaluru.
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Shama Mohamed worked as a journalist with Zee TV, before taking the political plunge. She joined the Congress in 2015 and was appointed its national spokesperson. In 2018, she was made a national media panellist for the party.
Last year, a case over an alleged hate speech was registered against her during the Lok Sabha election campaign in Kozhikode, for having said that if the BJP came back to power, the places of worship of the minorities would be in danger.
She was once again in the eye of the storm last year during the protests by the Congress against the LDF government in Kerala over the death of Kannur ADM Naveen Babu.
