As the much-anticipated India-Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 fixture approached on Sunday evening, sharp political reactions poured in from across the spectrum, with opposition parties and regional outfits lashing out at the Centre for allowing the match to proceed in the shadow of the recent Pahalgam terror attack.
The match marks the first encounter between the two rivals since India launched “Operation Sindoor” in May to strike terror bases in Pakistan-controlled territories following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. While the Indian government has permitted the national team to participate in multinational events like the Asia Cup, it has maintained a ban on bilateral engagements across all sports.
Priyanka Chaturvedi’s sharp swipe at BCCI
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi came out strongly against the cricketing tie, remarking that the game was being forced upon citizens despite widespread calls for a boycott.
‘Tonight at 8 pm, the India vs Pakistan match is scheduled to take place. I would rather call it BCCI vs Pakistan. People across the country have demanded a boycott of the match with Pakistan, including the families who lost their loved ones in the Pahalgam terror attack. If the people of the country do not want this match and it is still happening, then the team playing against Pakistan will not be Team India-it will be Team BCCI,’ she posted on X.
‘PM Modi Unable To Take Necessary Step’: Gaurav Gogoi, Venugopal Questions Patriotism
Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi also criticised the decision, alleging the Modi government had failed to take a firm stand with international cricket authorities.
‘Somewhere in the process of becoming ‘Vishwaguru,’ PM Modi was unable to take the necessary step for the ICC via the BCCI. A member of the home minister’s family is involved in the ICC, and the BCCI secretary is very close to Assam CM Hemant Biswa Sarma. They often talk about Pakistan, but today we see a clear difference between their actions and words. I will not watch the match, and I believe most Indian citizens will also choose not to watch this match,’ Gogoi told news agency ANI.
Earlier, in an X post, he wrote, “India and Pakistan are meeting in a T20 International after more than 15 months in an Asia Cup group match in Dubai on Sunday.Gogoi has been criticising the decision to play against Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack, and had written to the BCCI also to not participate in matches against the neighbouring country.The decision of the BJP government to go ahead with the India-Pakistan cricket match exposes its misplaced priorities.”
Congress MP KC Venugopal remarked, “Those who are talking about patriotism have to reply to all these things. Whenever Rahul Gandhi discusses China in parliament, they say that Rahul Gandhi is China’s man. Now our own prime minister is going to China and talking with them, so there is no problem at all. The BJP people are basically doing false narratives on all these things. They have to reply to all these things.”
“BJP is not interested in doing welfare for the people. They are only interested in dividing the people. This is what they are doing everywhere,” he alleged.
Tejashwi Yadav dubs Pakistan ‘BJP’s partner’
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, too, weighed in, accusing the BJP of doublespeak on Pakistan. According to news agency PTI, the leader of opposition in Bihar remarked:
‘This is a question that should be posed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had famously bragged about vermilion (sindoor) flowing in his veins. Pakistan is a partner of the BJP, which likes to start a military conflict and put off a water treaty, only to announce a ceasefire later. Now, it has agreed to a cricket match, all as per its own convenience.’
He recalled that after the Pahalgam terror strike in April, which killed over 20 people, the BJP-led Centre had suspended the Indus Water Treaty, only to change course soon after.
Opposition Parties Protest India-Pakistan Asia Cup Match, Call for Boycott
Opposition parties across India, including the Shiv Sena (UBT), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and AIMIM, staged protests on Sunday to oppose the Asia Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan in Dubai. They urged the public to boycott the match, arguing against playing a nation that “sponsors terror”.
Shiv Sena (UBT) organised protests in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Jammu. The party’s leader, Sanjay Raut, ridiculed the BJP and the Centre, calling their Hindutva “a big farce”. Raut, a Rajya Sabha member, claimed that “In the past, India has withdrawn from such cricket matches”. He said the AAP has promised to make public the names of restaurants screening the match and call for a boycott of those outlets, a trend which “will also be followed in Maharashtra”.
Raut’s colleague, Anil Parab, warned that if hotels do not heed the warning, the party would “see what can be done in its own style”. Milind Narvekar, a party secretary and Mumbai Cricket Association member, claimed that the decision for the match was made “keeping Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the dark”.
In Mumbai, Sena (UBT) women workers launched a ‘Majha Kunku Majha Desh’ campaign. Party leader and former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told reporters, ‘We will send these items (sindoor and other items used by a married woman) through official means to the PM’s Office’. She added, ‘We will tell the PM that those responsible for the death of the husbands of our sisters should be caught’.
Asavari Jagdale, a Pune resident whose father was killed in the Pahalgam attack, also called for a boycott, expressing “deep shame for those who are ready to play, those who organise the game, and those who will cheer this evening, forgetting the Pahalgam attack, the sacrifices of soldiers, and countless such attacks over the years”.
Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had previously termed the match an “insult to national sentiments” and urged people to ignore it. He said his party’s women’s wing would collect ‘sindoor’ and send it to the Prime Minister’s Office. Aaditya Thackeray, a Sena (UBT) MLA, tweeted that the match could be boycotted “even today, even now”. He called on the BCCI to “prove that it isn’t anti-national” as “Nothing can come beyond boycotting a country that harbours terrorists”.
AAP members staged a protest in Delhi. AAP’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal posted on X, ‘Playing a match with Pakistan is treason against the country and every Indian is very angry about it’.
In Hyderabad, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi questioned the BJP’s “Desh Bhakti” (patriotism), saying it gets “stumped” when it comes to cricket. He asked, “How much money will the BCCI get from one cricket match Rs 2,000 crore, Rs 3,000 crore? Tell us is the value of the lives of our 26 citizens more or the money”.
Hitting back at the protests, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde criticised the opposition, stating, ‘There are people who display fake patriotism and opportunistic love for the country”. He retorted, “The armed forces and PM Modi are there to take care of sindoor”. Shinde questioned the protesters’ whereabouts during the Pahalgam attack, referring to Thackeray’s Europe trip at the time. Union Minister M.L. Khattar stressed that “sports has its own system,” and it’s not necessary “that India has to maintain enmity permanently with the neighbour”.