Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee targets Jay Shah, calling BCCI’s Pakistan tie-up a product of BJP nepotism, while ex-cricketer Manoj Tiwary boycotts the match.
BY PC Bureau
September 14 – As India and Pakistan gear up for their Asia Cup T20 clash in Dubai on Sunday night, the political noise back home has grown louder. Opposition parties are lashing out at the Modi government for allowing the high-profile match to go ahead just months after the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 25 civilian lives.
Leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, and Shiv Sena (UBT) have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BCCI president Jay Shah, and other top officials of insensitivity and misplaced priorities.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi took to X to slam the government:
“By allowing this match, the BJP has chosen money and spectacle over compassion and sensitivity. The families of Pahalgam victims are still grieving, yet this government treats cricket as separate from the bloodshed on our soil. It is a betrayal of national sentiment.”
The decision of the BJP government to go ahead with the India–Pakistan cricket match exposes its misplaced priorities. Only a few months ago, innocent civilians lost their lives in the Pahalgam terror attack, and their families continue to bear the pain of that tragedy. Yet this…
— Gaurav Gogoi (@GauravGogoiAsm) September 14, 2025
Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee went a step further, alleging nepotism:
“Why is India playing Pakistan again? Amit Shah should answer. His son Jay Shah runs the BCCI. Nepotism is rampant, with Modi as the main uncle.”
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His colleague and former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary, now West Bengal’s Sports Minister, announced he would boycott the tournament altogether.
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh: AIMIM workers protest against the India-Pakistan Asia Cup match.India and Pakistan will clash in Dubai on Sunday, their first encounter since May’s border tensions following the Pahalgam attack.#Kanpur #AIMIM #AsiaCup2025 #IndiaVsPakistan pic.twitter.com/np4aZCHsJY
— Lokmat Times Nagpur (@LokmatTimes_ngp) September 13, 2025
“I cannot watch this match when the pain of Pahalgam victims is still raw. Families who lost loved ones deserve respect, not spectacles,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut also weighed in:
“A true patriot will not watch this match. But Jay Shah and Anurag Thakur’s families surely will, because their definition of patriotism is different.”
The Modi government has long avoided bilateral cricket with Pakistan, the last series dating back to 2012. But as former Sports Minister Anurag Thakur explained, multilateral tournaments leave no option:
“When matches are part of ICC or ACC events, India cannot withdraw. Refusing to play means forfeiting points, which is not possible in international competition.”
Even so, the opposition insists that permitting the match so soon after the Pahalgam killings reflects callousness and a profit-first approach.
