As India, Pakistan take to field in Dubai, Opposition parties hit the streets

Mumbai: Opposition parties on Sunday staged protests across the country to oppose the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match scheduled to be held in Dubai, raising slogans and urging people to boycott the game.

Protests led by the Shiv Sena (UBT) were held in Maharashtra 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 will face off in the evening, in what will be the first match between the two sides since the military conflict in May, when India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ to hit terror infrastructure in Pakistan-controlled territories after 26 persons, mostly tourists, were killed in a dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.

The Indian government has allowed the national team to play against Pakistan at multinational events like the World Cup and 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 In the past, India has withdrawn from such cricket matches. The call given by Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray to boycott the match is not limited to Maharashtra alone but has resonated across the nation,” Raut said.

Referring to the AAP’s protest, the Rajya Sabha member said the party has vowed to make public the names of the restaurants that will screen 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 claimed that BJP minister Ashish Shelar works under Mohsin Naqvi of the Pakistan Cricket Board, who heads the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Shelar should have resigned from the ACC on moral grounds, Raut said.

Had Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray been alive, the Dubai match too would not have taken place, he said.

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 terror 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, Uddhav Thackeray called 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, through post, not only from Mumbai, but from across Maharashtra to the PM’s Office,” Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told reporters.

“We will tell the PM that those responsible for the death of the husbands of our sisters (referring to the Pahalgam attack) 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 destroyed a television set on a road.

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,” he said on X. Referring to the players, he said those on the field must realise that they are playing against a country from where terrorists came and massacred innocent people.

“Nothing can come beyond boycotting a country that harbours terrorists. What a shame to know all of this and still going ahead with the game. Today, we miss a Union Government that would have strongly come down on such anti-national acts,” the MLA said.

Women workers of the AAP held a protest in Delhi on Sunday, urging people to boycott the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match.

AAP 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.” His party colleagues Manish Sisodia wondered in a post on X, “Have the flames of Operation Sindoor cooled so quickly that cricket matches are being played with the same terrorists?” In Telangana capital 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? The BJP should tell us about it (on the decision to play the match against Pakistan),” he asked.