Sunday’s much-anticipated Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan has fueled a political controversy, with politicians from all sides of the political spectrum, a family that lost a member to terrorism, and citizens demanding that the match be boycotted. The anger is based on the timing of the match, which is less than five months after a terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, that killed 26 individuals.
Critics say playing against Pakistan on the international stage is an insult to the victims and their loved ones. The controversy heightened a day prior to the match, with opposition leaders taking the forefront.
Calls For Boycott Intensify
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been leading the protests. AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj condemned the central government for giving more importance to commercial values than to national feelings. “Indian government is making cricketers play with such filthy people who erased our sisters’ sindoor,” he asserted, promising to “expose” restaurants and clubs that live telecast the match.
Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray also seconded the idea, remembering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s earlier “water and blood cannot flow together” comment. “How is war and cricket possible simultaneously? They have commercialized patriotism. They are interested only in money,” Thackeray said. His party MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also called for a boycott, recalling a social media post purportedly by Pakistani cricketers taunting Indian widows.
The criticism was personal and emotive as well. Aishanya Dwivedi, the wife of Shubham Dwivedi, who died during the Pahalgam attack, expressed that she felt that the BCCI had “no feelings for those 26 people” and asked cricketers to act.
Government Defends Participation
Defending India’s participation, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said playing in multi-national competitions is a “compulsion” so that India doesn’t lose matches and lose points. He once again stated that India’s policy of not playing bilateral series with Pakistan does not change until cross-border terrorism ends.
The argument of this view was supplemented by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who asserted that India has never complained about playing Pakistan in multi-team competitions, as compared to bilateral series. He added, “Sports often become a victim of politics.”
The match, which is part of the Asia Cup 2025, is a critical one where both sides have a good likelihood of progressing to the Super Four phase, where they could face each other again.