NEW DELHI: The RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagaran Manch on Monday slammed the Indian Premier League (IPL) and called for the boycott of the VIVO IPL 2020 set to begin in September.
“IPL Governing Council has shown its utter disrespect to the soldiers martyred by most heinous act of Chinese”, said Ashwani Mahajan, National Co-convenor, SJM.
“Swadeshi Jagran Manch is surprised to know that Indian Premier League, which organises T20 cricket matches, has decided to hold IPL with the sponsorship of a Chinese mobile company.
“With this IPL governing Council has shown its utter disrespect to the soldiers martyred by most heinous act of Chinese.
“At this time, when the nation is striving hard to make our economy free from Chinese dominance in the markets, government making all efforts to keep Chinese out of our markets, keep Chinese investments out and Chinese companies bidding or winning tenders in infrastructure and telecom; this act of IPL is not only an aberration to the nation’s mood, it shows utter disrespect to the country’s security and economic concerns.
“We urge upon the IPL organisers to rethink about their decision to allow Chinese company as their sponsors, failing which we may be constrained to give a call to patriotic citizens to boycott IPL.
“Remember nothing is above nation’s security and dignity,” said Ashwani Mahajan.
Notably, the JPL Governing Council has decided to retain all its sponsors, including Chinese mobile company VIVO. It has also approved Covid-19 replacements for the event scheduled to be held in the UAE.
The tournament will be played from September 19 to November 10, the IPL GC had decided after a virtual meeting on Sunday.