Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: With the government greenlighting Indian cricket team's encounter with Pakistan team in Asia Cup, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday asked Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to take steps to block the live streaming of the match on TV, OTT and other digital platforms.
In a letter to Vaishnaw, the Rajya Sabha MP said people of India "do not wish to watch a match that profits from the pain and outrage" of over 140 crore citizens after the Pahalgam terror strike.
She said she was "dismayed" by the insistence of both the BCCI and the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs on pushing India's participation in the Asia Cup and the match against Pakistan. "Hiding behind the garb of sportsman spirit" to allow the match to happen "lacks moral courage" to stand against the "terror nation", she said.
"We cannot afford to compartmentalise patriotism when lives are still being lost to cross-border terrorism. While our forces sacrifice their lives to dismantle Pakistan-sponsored terror, the Government looks the other way as platforms stream cricket matches that normalise engagement and turn tragedy into commerce," she said.
"Keeping the view of national interest and public sentiment, it is necessary that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology blocks the live streaming of the India vs Pakistan match across all OTT platforms, websites, and apps, since you also hold charge of Information & Broadcasting Ministry, I urge you to block broadcasters from telecasting the match live," she said.
Chaturvedi said there were various examples where nations chose principles over sports, including the boycott of South Africa during Apartheid, Olympic boycotts across decades, and, most recently, Pakistan's own hockey team refusing to play in India for the Asia Hockey Cup despite all clearances.
This exposes the hypocrisy of the decision by the Sports Ministry, she said.
"Let me also remind the government of a boycott of the Asia Cricket Cup by Pakistan in 1990-91 over heightened India-Pak tension. However, the stubbornness to go ahead with promoting this match by BCCI to make money will in truth be not just blood money but cursed money, as it carried the curse of the coffins of Pahalgam terror attack victims and our men in uniform," she said.