Mumbai: Bal Thackeray, founder and chief of Indian political party Shiv Sena, has strongly criticised the government for allowing India-Pakistan match series, scheduled to begin from December 25.
Thackeray, 86, has censured the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He termed the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government as “an enemy of national pride”.
He accused the BCCI of “betraying the country for the sake of money” and making Indian cricketers a part of it.
“Except for Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar, no cricketer has opposed playing cricket with Pakistan,” he wrote in an editorial published in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
He said allowing Pakistan to play in India would be equal to insulting ‘martyred’ soldiers, referring to Pakistan’s alleged role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike and the 2001 Parliament attack.
“By allowing them to play, we are not valuing the blood spilled by them (Indian soldiers) in our battles against Pakistani aggression,” he opined.
He also criticised Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, by saying , “Shinde has offered his services to Pakistan by giving the green signal to the tour.”
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