Mumbai: Opposition parties Sunday staged protests across the country to oppose the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match in Dubai, urging people to boycott the contest with a nation that sponsors terror.
Shiv Sena (UBT) organised protests in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu, while Aam Aadmi Party members staged a demonstration in Delhi.
In the south, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Centre, asking whether the money earned through the match was more than the value of the lives of those killed in Pahalgam.
Traditional rivals India and Pakistan are facing off, in the first match between the two sides since India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ in May to hit terror bases in Pakistan-controlled territories following the killing of 26 persons in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
The Indian government has allowed the national team to play against Pakistan at multinational events, including the Asia Cup, but has barred any bilateral engagement across sports.
Targeting the BJP and the Centre, Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut mocked the governing party’s nationalism and love for the country.
“Its (BJP) Hindutva is a big farce. In the past, India has withdrawn from such cricket matches,” Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha member said AAP has vowed to make public the names of the restaurants screening the match and would give a call to boycott those outlets.
“The names of the restaurant, where the cricket match will be shown, will be made public. This trend will also be followed in Maharashtra,” Raut said.
He said BJP minister Ashish Shelar should have quit on moral grounds from the Asian Cricket Council rather than working under Pakistan Cricket Board’s Mohsin Naqvi, who heads the ACC.
Had Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray been alive, the Dubai match too would not have taken place, he said.
Raut’s party colleague Anil Parab said that if hotels do not heed the warning, the Sena (UBT) would “see what can be done in its own style”.
Sena (UBT) secretary and Mumbai Cricket Association member Milind Narvekar claimed the decision over the match was taken by keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark.
The party also protested in Pune, Thane and other places in the state.
Pune resident Asavari Jagdale, whose father Santosh Jagdale was among those killed in the Pahalgam attack, also called for the boycott of the match.
“I feel deep shame for those who are ready to play, those who organise the game, and those who will cheer this evening, forgetting the Pahalgam attack, the sacrifices of soldiers, and countless such attacks over the years,” she said.
On Saturday, Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray termed the match an insult to national sentiments and appealed to people to ignore it. He said his party’s women workers will collect ‘sindoor’ (vermilion) and send it to the PM’s Office.
The Sena (UBT) on Sunday also organised a ‘Majha Kunku Majha Desh’ campaign in Mumbai.
“We will send these items (sindoor and other items used by a married woman) through official means to the PM’s Office,” Sena (UBT) leader and Mumbai ex-mayor Kishori Pednekar told reporters.
“We will tell the PM that those responsible for the death of the husbands of our sisters should be caught,” she said.
Pednekar and her party’s South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant led a protest near Currey Road in central Mumbai. In Kandivali, the party workers smashed a television set on a road.
Hitting back at the Sena (UBT), Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “There are people who display fake patriotism and opportunistic love for the country. The armed forces and PM Modi are there to take care of sindoor,” Shinde retorted.
Where these people were when the Pahalgam attack took place, Shinde said, referring to Thackeray’s Europe trip during that time.
“Those who have doubts about Indian armed forces and defaming the PM in the country and outside have no moral right to ask such questions,” said the Shiv Sena chief.
Citing Operation Sindoor, Union Minister M L Khattar said, “We have warned our enemies that we won’t tolerate anything like this.”
Stressing that sports has its own system, the former Haryana CM said it is not the case that India has to maintain enmity permanently with the neighbour.
“We are clear that terror will not be tolerated. They (Pakistan) have to return PoK. If Pakistan agrees to it then we have no issues having good relations with each other,” he said.
Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray said the match can be boycotted “even today, even now”.
“The @BCCI can still show India that it belongs to India, and not to greed of money. The BCCI can still prove that it isn’t anti-national. Nothing can come beyond boycotting a country that harbours terrorists…,” he said.
AAP women workers protested in Delhi on Sunday, urging people to boycott the match. Their national convenor Arvind Kejriwal wrote on X, “Playing a match with Pakistan is treason against the country and every Indian is very angry about it.”
In Hyderabad, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said the BJP always talks about “Desh Bhakti”, but when it comes to cricket, it gets “stumped”.
Addressing a public meeting late Saturday, he sought to know how the match is being played if PM Modi has asserted that water and blood cannot flow together and terror and talks are not possible.
“How much money will the BCCI get from one cricket match Rs 2,000 crore, Rs 3,000 crore? Tell us is the value of the lives of our 26 citizens more or the money,” he asked.
PTI
