Coming to Senses, at Last
At last good sense has prevailed over Hindu communal leader Bal Thackeray and his party Shiv Sena. The announcement of 'no disruption' of Pakistan's cricket tour of India, with the provision "for this year only" came hours before the visitors landed in New Delhi. After about a fortnight of suspense and high drama in which top Indian leaders including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L K Advani, a strong supporter of Shiv Sena, played their parts, this communal party made a turn about in their attitude much to the relief of millions of cricket-lovers all over the sub-continent. By and large, the media, particularly newspapers and television, have been extremely critical of the Shiv Sena and the Union government for their apparent failure to take a firm stand against the unlawful activities of the members of Shiv Sena that included digging up the turf at Delhi's Feroze Shah Kotla stadium and vandalism at the Cricket Board office at Mumbai. Despite the threats and disruptions in the preparations of the tour, the Pakistan and Indian Cricket Boards stood their ground firmly going ahead with a much-awaited cricketing extravaganza. The upcoming series has already produced unprecedented interest in the sub-continent. We salute the spirit of the players, organisers, spectators, media and a vast majority of saner element of the society for their strong support to a noble cause and eagerly look forward to a momentous series.
But Thackeray must realise that public opinion is much more powerful than the communal politics of Shiv Sena and this is the best way of combating communal forces anywhere in the world.
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