India-Pak match ‘an insult to national sentiments’: Uddhav Thackeray

The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief also announced a statewide protest called “Sindoor Raksha Abhiyan” on Sunday, when the Asia Cup match will be played in Dubai.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government’s decision to allow the Indian cricket team to play against Pakistan in the ongoing Asia Cup, calling it a “sad and disturbing” move that “insults national sentiment” in light of the Pahalgam terror attack in April that claimed 26 lives.

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray addresses a press conference, in Mumbai, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025. (PTI Photo) (PTI09_13_2025_000142A) (PTI)

Thackeray also announced a statewide protest called “Sindoor Raksha Abhiyan” on Sunday, when the match will be played in Dubai. The protest, led by women workers of the Shiv Sena (UBT), will involve sending boxes of sindoor (vermilion) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi—a symbolic act following Operation Sindoor, the Indian armed forces’ retaliatory precision strike on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in May.

Addressing a press conference at his residence, Matoshree, on Saturday, Thackeray urged Modi to call off the match and show that he gives utmost importance to nationalism, and show the rest of the world that India will not compromise on its stand against terrorism.

“This cricket match is an insult to national sentiments. Should we be playing cricket with Pakistan while our soldiers sacrifice their lives on the borders?” he said. “If blood and water cannot flow together, then how can cricket and blood (go) together?” he added.

Thackeray also criticised the Modi government for its “ineffective foreign policies” and alleged that it was doing trade in the name of patriotism. “The BJP-led government and their leaders give importance to trade and revenue, which is expected to be generated from the match. They had shifted the final match of the World Cup (between India and Australia in November 2023) to Ahmedabad from Mumbai for the sake of revenue. I am sure the countrymen will give importance to nationalism and oppose the match by not even watching it on television,” he said.

Responding to criticism over a 2004 visit by Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad to Matoshree, Thackeray clarified that his father, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, had openly opposed cricket with Pakistan then as well. “Maharashtra chief minister (Devendra) Fadnavis has raised this (issue), but let me tell him that the honourable Balasaheb Thackeray had bluntly told Miandad that until Pakistan supported terrorism and did not correct its act, there would be no cricket between the two neighbouring countries,” he said.

Further attacking the BJP, Thackeray said, “The same party whose leaders pay tribute at Jinnah’s tomb and secretly land in Pakistan to eat biryani with the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif should not teach others nationalism.” These were apparent references to former BJP president LK Advani’s visit to Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi during a trip to Pakistan in 2005, and Modi’s surprise visit to Pakistan in December 2015 to meet Sharif on his birthday.

BJP, allies hit back

Meanwhile, BJP leaders and allies dismissed Thackeray’s stand as political opportunism. Backing the Modi government’s position, BJP MP and former sports minister Anurag Thakur clarified that while India may face Pakistan in multinational tournaments, its stand on bilateral cricket ties with its neighbour remains unchanged.

“When multinational tournaments are organised, it becomes a compulsion, a necessity for nations to participate,” said Thakur in Pune. “If they don’t do that, they will be eliminated from the tournament; they will have to forfeit the match, and the other team will get the points. But we took a decision years ago that India won’t play bilateral tournaments with Pakistan until Pakistan stops terrorist attacks on India.”

BJP MLA Ram Kadam said opposing the match was a childish act. “It is an international tournament where all the countries are participating. We may have enmity with Pakistan, but why should we boycott the cricket matches when all other countries are participating?” he said.

“Thackeray has no moral right to oppose the match,” said Shiv Sena spokesperson Naresh Mhaske. “During the Congress era, too, international cricket matches were played between India and Pakistan even when relations were tense. Playing an Asia Cup match doesn’t mean a change in the policy.”

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party struck a more diplomatic note when asked for his comments. “The country has a population of 140 crore. In such a vast country, there are bound to be differences of opinion over the cricket match. Some people may feel that since relations between the two countries are strained, there should be no match. At the same time, others may support the game,” Pawar told reporters.

With inputs from Pune bureau and agencies