India-Pak cricket match insult to national sentiment, says Uddhav; Sena (UBT) to stage ‘sindoor’ protests

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday (September 13, 2025) said playing a cricket match with Pakistan is an insult to national sentiments as Indian soldiers are sacrificing their lives on the borders, and announced 'sindoor' protests across Maharashtra.

Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Mr. Thackeray said boycotting the Asia Cup match between the two countries, scheduled for Sunday (September 14, 2025), is an opportunity to convey to the world India's stance on terrorism.

Targeting the BJP-led Centre, he wondered whether the government is going to announce that Operation Sindoor has been stopped, and appealed to "deshbhakts" (patriots) not to watch the cricket contest as wounds of the Pahalgam terror attack are still fresh.

"This cricket match is an insult to national sentiments. Should we be playing cricket with Pakistan while our soldiers sacrifice their lives on the borders?" Mr. Thackeray asked.

Slamming the Union government, Mr. Thackeray dubbed the cricket match a joke on patriotism. He said boycotting the match will send a strong signal to the world about Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

"This was (undivided) Shiv Sena chief (Bal Thackeray's stand). If blood and water cannot flow together, then how can cricket and blood (go) together?" he said, and alleged that they (BJP) were doing trade in the name of patriotism.

Mr. Thackeray said the Sena (UBT) will stage protests against the match. He said the party's women workers will collect sindoor (vermilion) and send it to the Prime Minister's Office.

Referring to an old meeting between Bal Thackeray and Pakistani cricketer Javed Miandad at Matoshree, the Thackeray family's Mumbai residence,Mr. Uddhav said, "My father had told Javed Miandad that there will be no cricket till terror acts against India from Pakistan continue."

"Till the time terror does not stop, we shouldn't maintain any relations with Pakistan," the former Maharashtra Chief Minister asserted.

Questioning the Centre's position on Pakistan, Mr. Thackeray said India's foreign policy has proved to be weak, and it seems the country won't get back Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

"You were saying that Pakistan is spreading terror, and now you are playing cricket with the same country. Is Pakistan a terror state or not? Is it our enemy or not? Soldiers are getting martyred, and these people play cricket. This is not good," Mr. Thackeray added.

Operation Sindoor was initiated on May 7, 2025, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians. It was a calibrated and targeted campaign by armed forces to dismantle the terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and deeper inside Pakistan.

Mr. Thackeray, meanwhile, recalled the U.S.'s boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and its allies’ not participating in Afghanistan. In retaliation, Russia, then part of the Soviet Union, didn't join the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, as the Soviet Union and 13 allied nations had boycotted the games, he added.

The U.S. led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In total, 65 nations refused to participate in the games, whereas 80 countries sent athletes to compete.