Shiv Sena latest: Party activists storm BCCI HQ ahead of Indo-Pak cricket meeting

There seems to be no end to Shiv Sena’s agitprop brand of politics. In its latest protest, the party stormed into the headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to protest against Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shahryar Khan and the possibility of a cricket series between India and Pakistan.

A group of Shiv Sena workers, waving banners and flags, marched into the BCCI headquarters in south Mumbai and stormed into the cricket body’s chief Shashank Manohar’s office to protest against the meeting with the PCB chief that was scheduled to take place on Monday.

The agitators raised slogans like ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ and said that they would not allow cricketing ties with Pakistan.

The protesters were later taken away from the BCCI headquarters by the police, after which the venue of the meeting has been shifted, Times Now reported. CNN-IBN reported that the attackers have been detained by the police.

The talks on the proposed bilateral series have now been rescheduled to be held in Delhi on Tuesday. “The talks have not been called off. Mr Manohar and Mr Khan will speak to each other in evening today and tomorrow they are coming to Delhi for another round of talks,” IPL Chairman and senior Board functionary Rajiv Shukla said.

Sena Vibhag Pramukh Pandurang Sakpal told reporters that his party is firm that there should be no cricket matches between the two countries. Asked about Sena being a part of the Maharashtra government, Sakpal said, “The government will do its job, we will do ours.”

“What we did today is Sena’s stance,” he said.

Reacting to the incident, BCCI chief Rajeev Shukla said that he ‘strongly condemns’ the attack and said that the cricket governing body would not ‘do anything against the national interest.’

Strongly condemns the attack on BCCI Office by Shiv Sena.

— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) October 19, 2015

BCCI is a responsible body and will not do anything against national interest. Cricketing decisions should be left to BCCI.

— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) October 19, 2015

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari was quoted by Times Now as saying,“Law and order appears to have completely broken down in Maharashtra. The government should take cognizance of this.”

Tiwari recalled previous incidents in which Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concert was cancelled and an attack on ex-BJP ideologue Sudheendra Kulkarni had taken place ahead of Khurshid Kasuri’s book launch. The Shiv Sena has defended its decision to blacken Kulkarni’s face and even went so far as to say that the former BJP ideologue was more dangerous for the unity of the country than a hundred Kasabs.

With inputs from PTI