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BJP condemns Sena's 'bravado', hopes Pak tour is on

The opposition parties, including the Congress and the Left, today blasted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government at the Centre for failing to protect the cricket pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium in Delhi.

The pitch was vandalised by Shiv Sena members yesterday to pre-empt the first India-Pakistan cricket Test to be played from January 28.

Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi deplored the incident and demanded stern action against the officials who had failed in their duty to protect the ground.

"A lunatic fringe of fascism was exhibited by the Shiv Sena in destroying the pitch last night," he said.

Jogi said cricket officials had called on Union home ministry official Nikhil Kumar a couple of days ago to seek protection for the stadium in view of Sena chief Bal Thackeray's statements against the tour, but the government allowed the lumpens to have their way.

The Communist Party of India said the central government is being a mute spectator to the activities of the Shiv Sena in the capital and has no control over law and order. The Sena first attacked a cinema hall in Delhi and has now damaged the cricket ground.

"The writ of Thackeray rules even in the capital, not the authority of the Centre. The Shiv Sena chief should be shown his place. He cannot behave like a mediaeval emperor or a dictator," the party said.

The Delhi unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said, "Following closely on the heels of their heinous attack on the film Fire, the communally motivated vandalism of Shiv Sena goons is nothing but a reflection of their communal and fascist mindset and politics."

"It is also part and parcel of the ongoing offensive of Hindu communalists against the minorities and all those who do not conform to their retrograde social vision," the party said.

"The fact that the police were passive bystanders and did not do anything to prevent this crime clearly points to the connivance of the BJP-led central government, under whose guidance the Delhi police works," CPI-M secretary P M S Grewal said.

Indian Youth Congress president Manish Tiwari demanded the immediate resignation of Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani as "the destruction of the cricket pitch, the damage to private property over the screening of the film Fire, and the subsequent attacks on eminent artiste Dilip Kumar's house have conclusively proved that he neither has the desire nor the ability to uphold the rule of law".

The Youth Congress demanded that action should not only be taken against the Yuva Shiv Sena activists who vandalised the ground but also against Thackeray and Madhukar Sarpotdar, MP, on whose direction it was done.

The BJP also condemned the Sena for its act. "We condemn all such incidents. It is an incident of unwarranted bravado," party vice-president J P Mathur said.

He hoped the matches would be held as scheduled. "Our central and state governments are capable of ensuring incident-free matches," he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit said the police should have anticipated the act.

"I hope they [the police] will be alert now," she said.

UNI

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