Asia Cup: Shiv Sena UBT's Sanjay Raut questions silence of RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal on India-Pakistan cricket match

Mumbai: The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday questioned the silence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal over India’s participation in Asia Cup when it would take on the Pakistan cricket team in Dubai. 

“(After the Pahalgam terror attack), Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that ‘water and blood cannot flow together’….however, if water and blood cannot flow together, then how can blood and cricket go hand in hand,” asked Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut. 

“While Operation Sindoor is still underway, how can the government allow a cricket match between India and Pakistan…the BJP can have any reason… my question is  to VHP,  RSS, and BD… Do you have any role in this or not?,” Raut told reporters. 

Describing the government allowing India-Pakistan cricket engagement as “treason and shamelessness”, Raut said that the Shiv Sena (UBT) would stage protests under the campaign Sindoor Raksha Abhiyan. 

“We will protest against this India-Pakistan cricket match,” he said, adding that thousands of women from Maharashtra will send sindoor from every household to the Prime Minister.

Earlier, in a post on X, Raut said that the outcry of the 26 mothers and sisters whose sindoor was wiped away in the Pahalgam attack has not yet ceased.

“Operation Sindoor, launched to break the backbone of terrorist Pakistan, has not ended. Yet, an India-Pakistan cricket match is being played in Abu Dhabi on September 14. The children of BJP ministers will surely go to watch this match. This is outright treason,” he said.