Mumbai: The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction Thursday announced it would protest the India–Pakistan Asia Cup match September 14 in Dubai by launching the ‘Sindoor Raksha’ (My Kumkum, My Country) movement.
Shiv Sena(UBT) MP Sanjay Raut Thursday said that thousands of women from Maharashtra will send ‘sindoor’ from their homes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in protest against what he called betrayal and treason, particularly the decision to allow the India–Pakistan cricket match, while the cries of the 26 mothers and sisters who lost their loved ones in the Pahalgam terrorist attack have not yet faded.
Raut said, “Operation Sindoor, launched to break the backbone of terrorist Pakistan, is still not over, yet an India–Pakistan cricket match is being held in Abu Dhabi September 14. The children of BJP ministers will surely be in the stands. Jay Shah, son of Home Minister Amit Shah, is the supreme authority in cricket, while Amit Shah himself lectures us on patriotism. They claim that Shiv Sena (UBT) has strayed from its original ideology, but we want to make it clear that we have not. To oppose this betrayal, the Shiv Sena (UBT) women’s wing will launch the ‘Sindoor Raksha’ movement Sunday.”
Raut further said that thousands of women from Maharashtra would send ‘sindoor’ from their homes to Prime Minister Modi, adding that in honour of ‘sindoor’, Shiv Sena was taking to the field with the message ‘Sindoor ke sammaan mein, Shiv Sena maidan mein’.
Raut said that party chief Uddhav Thackeray convened a meeting in this regard and took the decision.
He reiterated that the India–Pakistan cricket match was against public sentiment.
“The prime minister and the defence minister had said that India would break Pakistan’s back, and that blood and water cannot flow together. Then how can blood and cricket flow together?” he asked.
Raut also challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to clarify their stand on the proposed match.
He further said that Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray had always opposed cricket ties between India and Pakistan.
“When Javed Miandad visited our home, Balasaheb Thackeray told him to have tea and leave. We are not here to promote such matches,” he added.
Targeting the BJP on this issue, Raut said, “On the one hand, when Pakistan is shedding blood in Kashmir, how can it come to play cricket with us? Should this not bring shame? This is the question the Bharatiya Janata Party must answer. At least open your mouth and oppose it. Are you not the party that calls itself pro-Hindutva?”
Raut claimed that Operation Sindoor is not over and the cries of women have not subsided.
“Even today, there is pain all around, and yet you are playing a match with Pakistan. Shiv Sena cannot accept this,” he said, warning that the party’s women’s wing will take to the streets.
IANS
