Shame on Thackeray
The efforts of the two warring nations to soothe nerves through renewed cricketing contacts have met with communal frenzy from the Hindu chauvinist party Shiv Sena led by the sadistic Bal Thackeray. The hatred manifested last Wednesday with the vandalisation of the cricket pitch at Firojeshah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. A similar incident took place in 1991 as Shiv Sena extremists dug up pitch in Bombay to prevent Pakistan playing India. The match was shifted to another venue outside the State of Maharashtra. But this time the tentacles of Bal Thackeray even reached Delhi causing tensions in the Cricket Boards and embarrassment to the BJP government at Delhi which is an ally of Thackeray's Shiv Sena Party. A cricket series between arch rivals India and Pakistan generates tremendous heat, expectation, anxiety and interest among millions of people not only in the countries concerned but in the sub-continent as a whole, let alone the people of sub-continental origin wherever they are.
Little wonder, these teams have been meeting outside the subcontinent for the past nine years. In fact Pakistan have not been able to play a full series in India in the last 13 years. What a pity! But we must congratulate Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his whole-hearted support for and commitment to the safety of the Pakistani players and the BJP's assurance to back the government in its endeavour to stage the games. The Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has also expressed the wishes of his team to go ahead with the tour. This is a very positive approach and even if no match is played in Bombay we hope the series will produce a thriller in the opener at Delhi on 28 January. Thackeray and his communal army should burn in the hell as the tour progresses.
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