In a bid to prevent the MNS from hijacking another issue, the Shiv Sena tried to run out Sachin Tendulkar on the pitch of Marathi pride, but ended up on a sticky wicket.
In a bid to prevent the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) from hijacking another issue, the Shiv Sena tried to run out master blaster Sachin Tendulkar on the pitch of Marathi pride, but ended up on a sticky wicket itself.
Reacting to Tendulkar’s “Mumbai belongs to all Indians” remark, party chief Bal Thackeray on Monday “advised” the cricketer to concentrate on his game and stay away from the issue of who has the first right over Mumbai. He even hinted that cricketers only played for themselves.
Thackeray’s comments in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, drew flak from the cricket board and politicians across the country even as the party tried to defend him, saying the patriarch didn’t mean to demean Tendulkar, one of Mumbai’s most prominent Marathi manoos.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Tendulkar had said: “I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all
Indians.”
Thackeray slammed the remark. “There was no need for him (Tendulkar) to take a cheeky single by making such remarks. By making these remarks, you (Tendulkar) have got run-out on the pitch of Marathi psyche. You were not even born when the Marathi manoos got Mumbai — 105 Marathi people sacrificed their lives to get it. You left the crease and moved to the pitch of politics by making these remarks which have hurt Marathis,” he wrote in the editorial.
The Sena patriarch said Tendulkar became a millionaire but nobody had any complaints about it. “Instead, we are proud of your success. There was no need for you to support the people who have already prepared to grab Mumbai. You players should always play for the country. But what about every cricketer who is playing for himself?” he wrote.
Thackeray asked Tendulkar that has he — who always thinks about the country first — ever thought about farmer suicides, inflation, load shedding, the pathetic living conditions in Mumbai’s slums and the influx of migrants?
“Whatever you have earned on the cricket pitch, do not lose it on the pitch of politics,” Thackeray said.
Defending Thackeray, Shiv Sena spokesperson Subhash Desai said he has only advised Sachin. “We at Shiv Sena also think that the country comes first. That is why we always say ‘Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra’. But Balasaheb has every right to advise Sachin and speak on the issue of Mumbai,” he said.
He said there is not a single wrong word against Sachin in the “letter”. “If Sachin is the final word on cricket, Balasaheb is the final word on Mumbai,” he argued.
Chief minister Ashok Chavan, however, came out in defence of Tendulkar. “Sachin’s statement has been made in the true sportsman spirit. Though he is a Maharashtrian, he plays for the country. His remark will unite the entire country. I do not attach any importance to what some people have said about him,” Chavan said.
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