Uddhav raises hackles over India-Pak cricket

Mumbai:  The Shiv Sena (UBT) unleashed a major offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Central government accusing them of ‘betraying national sentiments’ by permitting an India-Pakistan teams encounter in the upcoming Asia Cup cricket tournament in Dubai.

Leading the charge was SS (UBT) President and ex-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, with MP Sanjay Raut, ex-minister Aditya Thackeray, Leader of Opposition Legislative Council Ambadas Danve and others joining him.

A livid Thackeray sought to know why the BJP was ignoring the recent Pahalgam terror attack (April 22) while giving a nod to the restoration of cricket ties.

“People take to the streets for dogs, pigeons and elephants. That is very good… But where was this compassion for the people who were massacred in Pahalgam or the women whose ‘sindoor’ was erased,” demanded Thackeray sharply.

Aiming at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s statements that ‘Operation Sindoor’ is still on, Thackeray took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier remarks on patriotism - “hot ‘sindoor’ is flowing in my blood’ – and asked sarcastically, “when did this ‘hot sindoor’ become cold”.

Accusing the BJP-led Centre of dual standards, the SS (UBT) supremo said that “when the Operation Sindoor took place, the entire Opposition sided with the Government”.

“Now, how can you even allow the Indian cricket team to play with Team Pakistan. Our armed forces fought and made sacrifices, yet the government takes the credit and permits this,” Thackeray said.

Raut shot off a letter to the PM asking: “You once declared that blood and water cannot flow together. Will blood and cricket now flow side by side?”

Flaying the match motive, Raut noted: “The blood of the Indians killed in the Pahalgam attack has not yet dried, or the tears of their families have not yet stopped. Playing cricket matches with Pakistan ins inhuman.”

Questioning the commercial-cum-political motives behind the Indo-Pak match, Raut alleged that usually matches between the two neighbours involved large-scale betting and gambling with BJP members reportedly joining in.

“Jay Shah, son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and a key figure in international cricket, is steering these affairs. Is there a significant financial turnover for the BJP in this?” he questioned accusingly.

Worli MLA Aditya Thackeray wrote a separate letter to Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, accusing the government of ‘hypocrisy’.

Quoting the PM’s I-Day speech remark that “blood and water cannot flow together”, Thackeray Jr pointedly asked: “Is the BCCI above national interest? Above the sacrifice of our jawans? Above the ‘sindoor’ of the Pahalgam widows?”

Referring to other nations which have isolated aggressor states in the sports arena for greater causes, Aditya said that “terrorism is one such cause”, but the BCCI, driven by money and advertising revenue, has chosen cricket over the nation’s dignity.

Rooting with the SS (UBT) stance, Danve declared: “There should be no India-Pakistan match — not a series, not even a one-off contest.”

Thackeray Jr. took a swipe at the BCCI by referring to the new NCERT textbooks lessons on the Pahalgam attacks, asking the cricket body officials to ‘read it’.

“We had sent delegations to isolate Pakistan globally, but now our own cricket board is legitimizing them,” he said, as the Ss (UBT) attempted to nail nationalism - the BJP’s prime political plank.