I
ndia wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant has often been involved in controversies on the cricket pitch. This time he has taken his battle to the social media platform, X, to appeal to the CM of Uttarakhand to help him get hold of some land that would become the base of his future house.
The tweet, which was posted late at night by Rishabh Pant, has quickly caught the attention of his fans. The Chief Minister also promptly responded within a few hours, giving assurance of all possible help.
The message that Rishabh Pant has put forth to the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand was rather unusual in its form. It contained multiple grammatical errors, was written in a rather informal manner, and was a direct address to the Chief Minister.
Pant clarified in the message that for almost three years he was trying hard to get hold of a piece of land to build himself the first house, but all efforts failed as he couldn't get enough space for a good house.
Moreover, he expressed his willingness to shift to his native place to reconnect with his culture and contribute to the development of his community.
Interestingly, Pant also mentioned some sort of an understanding that he had about a piece of the plot for land he would get after his promotion campaign in Uttarakhand. It appears somewhat odd as Pant already owns a family property in his native place, namely Roorkee.
The fact that he posted the message from Sri Lanka, where India plays its tours, also raises some questions.
In a second posting regarding this, Pant made a clarification about himself: the land was not something that he could just accept.
He agreed that accepting a piece of land as a gift on account of being an international figure representing the state might well be in order, but he preferred it that the property was to be sold to him directly by the government at prevailing prices and for his first house be built by himself.
Furthermore, he said that he really didn’t know how to go about doing it all and appealed to the government to help him.
The Chief Minister responded on the same day to Pant's message in which he hailed Pant as a proud citizen of the land of the Gods, Dev Bhoomi, and thanked Pant for his work and the recognition of Uttarakhand across the nation and the world due to Pant’s efforts.
The Chief Minister also appreciated Pant’s love for his motherland and his desire to go back to it and make a mark there and informed Pant that the relevant officials have been instructed to look into his request in line with the rules.
While addressing journalists afterwards, the Chief Minister said that anyone was welcome to settle down in his state and that as a citizen of the state of Uttarakhand, Pant, the pride of Uttarakhand, certainly needed some help.
This comes as a result of the changing land laws in the state.
The cabinet in the state in February 2025 approved a strict land law designed to ensure the state's resource security through restriction on unlimited land purchase in the state.
According to Dhami then, the new legislation had been prompted by the desire to keep the state resources safe as well as the preservation of the originality of the state from outsiders who may want to buy land for commercial purposes only.
What role if any, the new legislation plays in Pant's petition is not clear but provides the background on which it becomes easy for a person such as Pant to find it extremely hard to buy or obtain land in the state despite being one of the residents there for a long time.
This is, however, not the first time Pant engages his native state on matters related to events there in times of importance.
After a flash flood caused by a glacier burst in the state resulted in many deaths, Pant in 2021 contributed his match fees towards relief works and called other donors to also help in rescue operations.
Pant has continued identifying himself as coming from the state in all his public appearances, and that is what made him be seen as one of the famous sons of Uttarakhand in Indian cricket.
