Shiv Sena Protests At BCCI Headquarters

Mumbai, Oct 19: On Monday, a group of Shiv Sena activists protested at Indian cricket board president Shashank Manohar’s office here against his move to hold talks with Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shahryar Khan to resume cricket ties between the two countries.

More than a 70 of the Shiv Sainiks carried a black flag and shouted the slogans like “Pakistan murdabad”, “Shashank Manohar murdabad” and “Shahryar Khan Go Back”.

Later, police not only detained more than two dozen activists, but also moved them away, even as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president silently watched everything from his office.

A protester said that the Shiv Sena would not permit any cricketing relations between these two countries until Pakistan stopped the killing of Indian soldiers and civilians at the Indian borders.

Shiv Sena executive editor of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana MP Sanjay Raut, said that it was not a gherao, but a meeting with Manohar to urge him to cancel the negotiations with his Pakistani counterpart.

Within a fortnight, this is the 2nd major protest held by the Shiv Sena against Pakistan.

Due to Sena’s strong opposition, the scheduled concerts of Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali’s  in Mumbai and Pune that started around 10 days ago, were forced to be cancelled.

Last Monday, Sena activists blackened the face of veteran journalist Sudheendra Kulkarni in an attempt to pressurize him to cancel a function of a book launch by a former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.

The move attracted condemnation, but following intervention by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the book release function passed off peacefully.