A day after leadership lodged strong protest over the issue, women workers of the AAP held a protest here on Sunday against the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match, and urged people to boycott the game.Party MP Sanjay Singh also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that "terror and trade cannot go together" questioning, "how are blood and games going together?" referring to the match.
Sanjay Singh said, "The Government of India said that the terrorists from Pakistan carried out the (Pahalgam) incident. Then Operation SIndoor happened. Our soldiers and the public lost their lives... The Pakistan that you are fighting with, you yourself said that the Operation Sindoor is not over yet...It is PM Modi's statement that terror and trade cannot go together. Then how are blood and games going together?"
Traditional rivals India and Pakistan will face off in Dubai on Sunday in what will be the first match between the two sides since the military conflict in May, when India launched strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan-controlled territories after 26 people were killed in a dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.
Several opposition parties have slammed the BJP-led Central government, calling the match an insult to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and the Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the borders.Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the Indian cricket team is adhering to the rules while justifying India's scheduled cricket match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup. Maurya said that the match is going ahead due to certain complusions related to participation in international competitions while admitting that no Indian wants this fixture to happen.
Meanwhile, women workers of Shiv Sena (UBT) on Sunday staged a protest in Mumbai with 'sindoor', opposing India's participation in the match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup, scheduled for today. Ahead of the clash, there had been a widespread demand from the opposition to boycott the match. However, the Centre had issued no objection from the Indian team to playing against Pakistan in any multi-nation tournament.
In a post on X, AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal said, "Playing a match with Pakistan is treason against the country and every Indian is very angry about it." Senior party leader Manish Sisodia said Prime Minister Modi had himself declared that "talks and terrorism cannot go together." "Have the flames of Operation Sindoor cooled so quickly that cricket matches are being played with the same terrorists?" he posed on X.
AAP's Delhi unit president Saurabh Bharadwaj said when the BJP was in the opposition, it would always demand a boycott of cricket matches with Pakistan. "But now, when they are in power, they are allowing a cricket match with Pakistan within a few months of the Pahalgam terror attack," he said.Earlier in the day, Bharadwaj held an online meeting with all party Lok Sabha MPs, asking them to boycott the match.
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