Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday announced that the party will launch a ‘Sindoor Raksha’ campaign on Sunday to protest India’s Asia Cup 2025 cricket match against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.
Calling the match a “betrayal,” Sanjay Raut said India should not engage with Pakistan in any form, including sports, according to the news agency PTI.
In a post on X, he said thousands of women from Maharashtra will participate in the protest by sending sindoor (vermilion) from their homes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a symbolic appeal.
Referring to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, in which Pakistan-backed terrorists killed 26 persons, he said Operation Sindoor which was launched by India, was still on and, therefore, sporting ties with the neighbouring nation was unacceptable.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 to avenge the Pahalgam attack, decimating terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir before the two nations agreed to end hostilities on May 10.
“Children of BJP ministers will surely go to watch this match. This is treason,” Raut claimed.
Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Nirupam files a complaint against Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut over Nepal remarks
Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Nirupam on Thursday filed a complaint against Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut at the Versova police station in Mumbai.
This comes a day after Sanjay Raut`s statement, in which he cautioned about a similar situation in India while speaking about the widespread protests in Nepal.
Raut alleged the “fire in Nepal”, which has been lit against corruption, dictatorship, and nepotism, could happen in India too, but the reason that no violence has occurred is because people believe in the non-violent ideology of Mahatma Gandhi. He alleged that the Narendra Modi-led government is “surviving because of Gandhi`s ideology.”
“If this spark comes to India, then India is a big country, the India which has survived till today just because Mahatma Gandhi was born here, even today people believe in Gandhi, that`s why these people are surviving. No matter how much you abuse Gandhi, Modi ji, your government is surviving because of Gandhi`s ideology,” Raut stated.
“Prime Minister Modi gives free ration to 80 crore people, what does it mean? The poor are still there, same was the condition of Nepal. India`s money is going abroad. Someone son is sitting in Dubai someone`s son in Singapore, someone becomes cricket chairman,” he said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
