Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Shiv Sena has such a rich history of digging up cricket pitches and isolating Mumbai from international cricket that you cannot shrug this off as the hollow rant of a party desperate for a cause. As long as there are attacks against our Indian brethren on Australian soil,threatened Sena chief Bal Thackeray in the partys journal Saamna,Australian cricketers would not be allowed to play in Maharashtra. Australian cricket officials reacted within a day,expressing concern about around 40 players in the forthcoming season of the Indian Premier League.
Thackerays party had,of course,been successful in enforcing a long blockade on Pakistani cricketers. It,in fact,was almost a given that a match involving Pakistan would not be scheduled in Mumbai.
a strong statement that such vandalism will not be permitted.
To have Mumbai off crickets map would be cruel. Cricket has always acknowledged the citys special place in the game. And most recently,barely a fortnight after 26/11,the English cricket team returned to India to complete a tour interrupted after the attack,with their captain making the point that life would go on. But like almost everyone else,sportspersons too these days are easily perturbed by the prospect of disruption and violence. This country cannot permit its territory to be off limits because of threats that are,in essence,racist.
