Various parties condemn shiv sena's protest at bcci headquarters

The noisy protests by over a hundred slogan shouting members at the Board office during which Manohar was ghearoed, forced the cancellation of the much-anticipated talks between him and

Khan. Noisy protests by Shiv Sena workers at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai over proposed talks for resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan, has evoked sharp reactions, with various

parties condemning the incident. "We are a democratic nation and every one has the right to protest on any issue in a democratic manner. But there is a difference between a democratic

way and hoologanism. No one accepts such a kind of protest," Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said. Congress leader Manish Tewari described the incident as "abominable" and

said law and order had completely "broken down" in Maharashtra, and Mumbai has been reduced to a "mobocracy", citing a spate of recent incidents, including the

cancellation of ghazal singer Ghulam Ali's show due to Sena's protests. "It is extremely unfortunate... This is extremely abominable. Law and order has completely broken down

in Maharashtra. The President of India should take cognisance of this," he said. NCP leader Rahul Narvekar said Sena has been involved in such activities since very long. "This is

not how you express your resentment to a particular thought. You adopt constitutional measures which are available with you," he said. Questioning Shiv Sena, the NCP leader said,

"When you are a part of an alliance, is it justified? You have to uphold the Constitution. What are you doing...If we talk about the recent examples, they were unconstitutional.

"Unfortunately, with a great deal of disappointment, I have to say the Fadnavis government seems to have got down to political compulsions as against their political responsibilities.

It is unfortunate." Meanwhile, justifying the protest by party workers, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, "We have not committed any crime by protesting. We are opposing Pakistan and

our stand against them is nothing new. This is not a political protest. We are only doing what is the feeling of the people of this country, because feelings of people are important to

us.....The people of the nation do not want any relations with Pakistan till they stop terrorist activities and hatching conspiracies against India. There will be no cricket, cultural and

political relations with them until they stop doing it." Taking forward its campaign against Pakistani personalties, Shiv Sena workers on Monday stormed the BCCI headdquarters in

protest against planned talks with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shaharyar Khan for resumption of bilateral cricketing ties. The talk slated for Monday has been now been rescheduled for

Tuesday.  The Rajya Sabha MP asserted that the Sena will not compromise on its stand and asked ally BJP to support it on the issue. "If anyone tries to build relations with Pakistan

through the medium of cricket, we will not let that happen and will not compromise on our stand. The BJP now needs to come forward and support us on this issue," Raut said. Justifying

the protest, Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena said, "it is absolutely correct to protest. What is wrong in it. In a democracy, they have a right to demonstrate against these people." He

added that Pakistan has not "stopped firing" at the border, innocent civilians are being killed, the extremist activities which Pakistan are being carrying out. Sena leader Manisha

Khayande said Sena workers have met BCCI chief Shashank Manohar and he agreed to it and said the party has always opposed whoever comes from Pakistan, be it a cricket player or those who

favour Pakistan. "Shiv Sena has always been clear about its stand from Day 1. It is a pro-India behaviour, not anti-India. I don't think we have intimidated anybody," she

claimed. BJP's Maharashtra spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said everyone is free to protest in our free and democratic country. "Everyone can express his views and every body has a

right to protest. They were shouting slogans in a democratic way...It is a democratic way of protest." The noisy protests by over a hundred slogan shouting members at the Board office

during which Manohar was ghearoed, forced the cancellation of the much-anticipated talks between him and Khan.