RSS affiliate wants BCCI to reconsider Chinese sponsorship for IPL

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has demanded the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should reconsider its decision to allow Chinese major Vivo to sponsor the Indian Premier League (IPL) against the backdrop of the border standoff.

SJM, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that was at the forefront of a campaign to boycott Chinese goods, has taken umbrage at BCCI’s decision to allow Chinese sponsorship and said Indians should consider boycotting the premier cricket series if the decision isn’t reversed.

The national co-convenor of SJM, Ashwani Mahajan, said on Monday BCCI’s decision went against the “current mood of the nation”.

“The call for boycott of Chinese goods is no longer just a demand from the SJM, it is a call being supported by ordinary citizens in the wake of what transpired between India and China,” he said.

The cricket board should be sensitive towards the nation and its security concerns, Mahajan said. “The whole world is boycotting China, IPL is sheltering them. They should understand that nothing is above the nation, not even cricket,” he added.

Following the June 15 clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley that left 20 Indian soldiers dead, RSS and its affiliates have pushed the government to opt for a more muscular policy to deal with China and intensified their campaign to revisit bilateral trade ties.

Lending support to the demand for boycotting Chinese goods, RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi told an RSS publication last month the campaign to not buy Chinese products “has happened naturally, not due to a mass movement”, implying the decision wasn’t enforced.

The opposition too has criticised BCCI’s decision.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, “Wither #AatmaNirbharBharatAbhiyan . Welcome back Cricket-China-profiteering and double standards. #BJPExposed”