New Delhi, April 01: After giving a deliberate miss to the crucial cricket match between India and Pakistan in the semi-finals in Mohali, the BJP top-brass is all set to go to Mumbai to watch the finals over the weekend, where India and Sri Lanka will clash for the World Cup.
According to party sources, the BJP leadership was not happy with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh extending the invitation to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to watch the Mohali match. Besides, with BJP’s oldest and key ally, the Shiv Sena, going public with its opposition to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s move to invite the Pakistani premier, the BJP leaders chose to stay away from the Mohali match, except for Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, who is in the BCCI.
Now that India has entered the finals and will play with Sri Lanka, the BJP leaders have no problem in going for the match. BJP patriarch L K Advani is an avid cricket-lover and with BJP president Nitin Gadkari, he would be present in Mumbai to cheer the India team, along with BJP spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain. While Jaitley is also expected to attend the match, the presence of Sushma Swaraj to cheer team India is uncertain.
In fact, the BJP was peeved with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh mixing cricket with diplomacy. Hussain took the position that BJP stands for friendly relations with Pakistan, but cricket and diplomacy should be kept separate.
Experience has shown that the mixing of the two has not been good for India. It was tried out in 2005, but it was followed by the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008. The BJP position is that the masterminds of the Mumbai attacks are in Pakistan, but the Pakistani govt has not taken any action against them.
The party feels talks can be held only if Pakistan cracks down the terrorist training camps on Pakistani soil and it stops export of terror to India. For the Government to go in for talks in the name of cricket is surprising.
–Agencies