Sena (UBT) stages protests against India-Pak Asia Cup cricket match

Members of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or UBT) on Sunday (September 14, 2025) raised slogans and destroyed a television set as part of their protests in different parts of Maharashtra against the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match scheduled in Dubai.

Traditional rivals India and Pakistan will face off in Dubai, 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 persons, mostly tourists, were killed in a terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22.

India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2025 updates

The Indian government has allowed the national team to play against Pakistan at multinational events, including the World Cup and the Asia Cup, but has barred any bilateral engagement across sports.

On Saturday, Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the cricket match between India and Pakistan in Dubai is an insult to national sentiments. The former Maharashtra Chief Minister had also appealed to people to not watch the match, and said his party's women workers would collect sindoor (vermilion) and send it to the Prime Minister's Office.

Following his opposition to the match, the Sena (UBT) on Sunday organised its 'Majha Kunku Majha Desh' campaign in Mumbai.

"We will send these items (sindoor and other symbols of a married woman) through official means, through post, not only from Mumbai, but from across Maharashtra to the PM's Office," Sena (UBT) leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told reporters.

"We will tell the Prime Minister that those who were responsible for the death of the husbands of our sisters (a reference to the Pahalgam attack) should be caught," Ms. Pednekar said.

Ms. Pednekar, along with her party's South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant, staged a protest near Currey Road, where they raised slogans and showed placards voicing their protest against the match.

In the Kandivali area here, party workers destroyed a television set on a road. They also organised protests in other parts of the city.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray, Mr. Uddhav Thackeray son, said the match could be boycotted even today, even now.

"The @BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] can still show India that it belongs to India, and not to greed of money. The BCCI can still prove that it isn't anti-national," he said in a post on social media platform X.

Referring to the players, Mr. Aaditya Thackeray said those on the field today must realise that they were playing against a country from where terrorists came and massacred innocent people.

"Think of the families who lost their loved ones in Pahalgam. Nothing can come beyond boycotting a country that harbours terrorists. What a shame to know all of this and still go ahead with the game," he said.

"Today, we miss a Union government that would have strongly come down on such anti-national acts," the MLA said.

"I think the decision to play these matches was taken by keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark," Shiv Sena (UBT) secretary and member of the Mumbai Cricket Association’s apex council Milind Narvekar claimed. The MLC was responding to a question during protests organised by his party against the India-Pakistan match.

Sena (UBT) workers also staged a protest against the match in neighbouring Pune city.