A political storm gripping India's main opposition party Congress in Punjab – that was sparked by a clash between its two senior leaders – has engulfed innocent footballer Amrinder Singh.
Amrinder's only "mistake" is that he shares a name with former Punjab State Chief and top Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh, who had bitter verbal spat with his rival and party head Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Some Indian media mistook footballer Singh for Captain Singh, and the sporty Singh – who is an Indian international player – started noticing that he was being tagged instead of political Singh in related stories on social media.
On Thursday, the footballer made a public appeal on social media saying: "Please stop tagging me."
Even senior Congress leader Amarinder Singh empathised with the footballer's situation and sent him a message wishing him luck in his upcoming matches.
In the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of football in the country, Amrinder plies his trade for ATK Mohun Bagan. To make things worse for the 28-year-old, last week he tested positive for COVID and is now isolating. His name was subsequently withdrawn from the Indian squad, which will compete in the upcoming SAFF Championships in the Maldives. The competition starts on 1 October.