‘Trade bigger than country?’: Uddhav Thackeray hits out at BJP over Indo-Pak match, to send boxes of Sindoor to PM Modi

A real patriot would keep the sacrifice of our Army and innocent civilians in mind before watching the match live on television, he added.

“By boycotting one match, we would have shown the world what our delegations could not achieve. We would have shown the world that Pakistan is spreading terrorism in India and proved that we would not allow any relationship with Pakistan unless terrorism is over,” said Thackeray.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister announced that his party’s women’s wing will hold a protest across Maharashtra on Sunday morning. “The party will collect sindoor packets in boxes and those will be sent to the residence of PM Narendra Modi to remind him about Operation Sindoor under our ‘Maza Koonku, Maza Desh’ (my Sindoor, my country) campaign,” said Thackeray.

He appealed to PM Modi to announce the cancellation of the match. “This is a real test of our Prime Minister, Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) and Jay Shah (ICC chief and Amit Shah’s son),” he said.

“Our PM had sent delegations across the world to announce that our fight is against terrorism and that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in India. What does Modi ji have to say now? This (cricket match) is nothing but a trade of patriotism…The government has no value for patriotism…Are Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh going to announce the end of war now?” asked Thackeray.

Asked whether he would appeal to Indians not to watch the match on television, Thackeray said, “Patriotism cannot be taught by appealing to anyone. I would only say that a real patriot will keep in mind the lives of innocents lost in Pahalgam and the sacrifice of our Armed forces due to terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.”