Key Points

In a hard-hitting editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, the Thackeray camp said, "It is another terrible 'terrorist' attack after Pahalgam. It is an insult to the crores of Hindus and mothers and sisters whose vermillion was erased following the killing of their beloved ones."

Slamming the Centre for giving the go-ahead for the cricket match with Pakistan by "trampling on the feelings of the country and the vermillion", the editorial pointed out that "When Javed Miandad reached 'Matoshree' to advocate Pakistani cricket, the Shiv Sena founder and Hinduhruday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray told him, 'As long as you are shedding the blood of Hindus in Kashmir, there will be no cricket with Pakistan. Terrorism and cricket will not go together!''

It said: "The people will have to fight for India's self-respect and the dignity of vermillion. Is it more important to play cricket or to teach Pakistan a lesson?"

It went on to say that cricket matches with Pakistan are "gambling" and the BJP is the "beneficiary".

The editorial also alleged, "Patriotism and other things have become a matter of winning elections and getting votes. If that was not the case, they would not have rubbed the salt on the wounds of the victims of the Pahalgam attack by giving the green signal to the India-Pakistan cricket match."

Thackeray camp claimed, "There is a public sentiment that India should not play cricket with Pakistan. The blood of those killed in the Pahalgam attack was shed in the Kashmir Valley. That blood has not dried yet. Tears are still flowing in the eyes of 26 sisters. The children and friends of the deceased have not yet recovered from the shock. Pakistan continues to carry out terrorist attacks. Therefore, while the Indian people are extremely angry with the Pakistanis, the Modi government, citing 'global' and 'international' rules, allowed the India-Pakistan cricket match."

It slammed the government for "stopping" the Operation Sindoor under US President Donald Trump's "pressure", and also for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent assertion that "America is our friend".

The editorial also slammed the Prime Minister's China visit, saying, " Pakistan is carrying out terrorist activities with the dragon's support."

Highlighting that in the Pahalgam terrorist attack, the assailants identified the people by religion and killed them, the Thackeray camp taunted, "Now it remains to be seen that for the India-Pakistan cricket match, cricketers of the neighbouring country have converted or Indian players have undergone their own ideological circumcision"

- IANS