The Opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) on Sunday staged “Har Ghar se Sindoor" protests in different parts of Mumbai and the state against India playing Asia Cup match against Pakistan, even as the party leader Anand Dubey shot off a letter to Sony Pictures Private Limited seeking a halt on the live telecast match played in Dubai. As a symbolic gesture, the Shiv Sena (UBT) workers smashed a television set in the middle of a road at Kandivali in north Mumbai. In line with the call given by Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, the party’s women wing workers, meanwhile, collected “vermilion’ from homes across the state on Sunday sending it by post to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Upping the ante, Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey wrote a letter to broadcasting Sony Pictures Private Limited seeking a halt on the live telecast match being played in Dubai. “We request you put a complete ban on the live broadcast of India Pakistan Asia Cup match 2025 that is to be held in Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The match should not be broadcast in India. We expect a speedy and positive response from you,” Dubey stated in his letter. Talking to media persons, Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar – who led the protests – said: “We will send sindoor and other items used by a married woman through post, not only from Mumbai, but from across Maharashtra to the PM's Office".
“We will tell the prime minister that those who were responsible for the death of the husbands of our sisters (a reference to the Pahalgam attack) should be caught," she said. Pednekar, along with her party's South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant, staged a protest near Currey Road, where they raised slogans and displayed placards voicing their protest against the match. Similar protests were by the Sena (UBT) workers at Ghatkopar (East), Ghatkopasr (west) and Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar areas in north-east Mumbai. The Sena (UBT) workers also staged a protest against the match in Pune.
In a statement put out “X”, former minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aadiya Thackeray slammed the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government for its “silence” over the Indo-Pak cricket match in Asia Cup played in Dubai onj Sunday “Blockbuster Fixture it seems. And the Government of India doesn't say a word on it. What a shame!...... After the Pahalgam attack, the Government sent delegations across the world to apparently call out Pakistan and Pakistan-based terrorism, but the Government isn't willing to tell the BCCI to withdraw from playing in the Asia Cup,” Aaditya stated.
"Money and entertainment over the lives lost in terrorist attacks, and over the lives of the soldiers who protect us, risking their own lives," Aaditya said. Our MP @priyankac19 ji had raised this question in the Parliament too, asking the Government, why is cricket more important than isolating a country as the home ground for terrorism!” "It's truly a mockery of the emotions of India that the @BCCI chooses to play Pak and the Government of India sits silent," the Sena (UBT) leader said.
Aaditya said that the BJP would use the issue of Pakistan only in elections, otherwise despite all the terror attacks, playing cricket is fine for it. "Friendship day message from the Government of India: true friendship must be like this...dedicated and one sided- they can attack innocent Indians, but we will still play cricket with them! Because we can always use their name in elections," Aaditya said. In a related development, Shiv Sena (UBT) secretary and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) member Milind Narvekar claimed the decision to hold the India-Pakistan match in the Asia Cup was taken by keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark.
"I think the decision to play these matches was taken by keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark," said Narvekar said, while responding to queries by media persons. It may be recalled that Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had said on Saturday that playing cricket with Pakistan was an insult to the emotions of the people and amounted to “treachery”.
“The cricket match is an insult to the people’s emotions and mocking our patriotism. The PM had said that ‘blood and water’ cannot flow together… Then how can cricket and blood continue together? Playing cricket with the Pakistan team is treachery,” Uddhav had said. Accusing the ruling BJP of playing “business in patriotism”, Uddhav had said: “What they are doing is doing business in patriotism. The business of patriotism is only for money. They are going to play the match tomorrow also because they want all the money they will get from that match".