The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday held a fierce protest against the India–Pakistan cricket match, pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have betrayed the nation for betting interests. Led by Delhi State President Saurabh Bharadwaj, AAP’s Women’s Wing smashed televisions outside the party headquarters, sent sindoor and bangles to the Prime Minister, and urged citizens to boycott the match.
The AAP Delhi Unit President charged that while PM Modi once claimed “hot sindoor runs through his veins” after the Pahalgam terror attack, today that fire has gone cold, with the BJP itself organising cricket with Pakistan despite the army’s Operation Sindoor creating an opportunity to reclaim PoK before PM Modi “took a U-turn.”
Addressing the protest, AAP Delhi Unit President Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “This is the same BJP that used to challenge Pakistan on every issue, speak of conflict, and preach to every government: do not meet Pakistan, do not talk to them, do not play cricket with them. Even during the Congress government, cricket with Pakistan was not played for fifteen years.”
He pointed out, “Just a few months ago, the husbands of 26 of our sisters were deliberately shot dead in front of them, their children and family. After that, how their funerals took place, how their pyres were lit, we all saw. The whole country cried with those sisters and their elderly parents. The fathers of the martyred sons wept inconsolably as they came to immerse their sons’ ashes, while the fathers had thought that one day their son would perform those last rites.”
Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “After this incident the entire country was extremely angry and every political party said: ‘PM Modi, move forward, we are with you.’ 140 crore people and our armed forces are with PM Modi. Our army fought, the army was winning; we could have defeated Pakistan and taken back the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). But the Prime Minister took a U-turn. At Trump’s urging, PM Modi arranged a ceasefire and called the forces back. It is shameful that when he wished he sent the forces, and when he wished he called them back. This should not have happened.”
The AAP Delhi unit chief said, “Now this match is being played because billions of dollars in betting are at stake. We have learned that in international betting billions of dollars are on the line. The Pakistani team has been offered money to lose so that the gamblers win. But why this match with Pakistan is being played, no BJP karyakarta has an answer.”
“Today the BJP worker is hiding. They used to go out in the mornings to the parks to find people; now they themselves are hiding. People are asking where they have gone. Even BJP workers feel that Modi ji has humiliated them. The whole country is opposing this match, yet the match is being held,” he noted.
Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “In this event our sisters have brought sindoor. They have come with sindoor because PM Modi said that his veins do not carry blood — hot sindoor flows in his veins. But in May PM Modi’s blood was hot; by September has it grown cold? The sindoor of a married woman is not so weak that it cools in four months. Something is wrong.”
The AAP Delhi unit chief asserted, “Our sisters and mothers have come today with sindoor to show what real sindoor is. It has warmth; it does not cool quickly. All our sisters will show this sindoor to the world. This is not the sindoor for which the Prime Minister delivered the line that hot sindoor flows in his veins. This is the real sindoor of an Indian married woman. We will show its strength to the world.”
During the protest, AAP Women’s Wing State President Sarika Chaudhary said, “The son of the Union Home Minister has been made the president of that ICC which is organising the India–Pakistan cricket match. I request every woman in the country not to support this cricket match. We will not let our children watch this match. We strongly oppose it.
“We have come with sindoor to protest against the Prime Minister. We will deliver this sindoor to them. Alongside, we have brought choodas (bangles), because PM Modi bowed down before the enemy. He has insulted the country’s women, its youth and our martyred soldiers. Do not secretly wear bangles,” affirmed Sarika Chaudhary.
