An influential right-wing Hindu party in Mumbai warned Wednesday that it would try and stop Australian cricketers playing in parts of India because of attacks on Indians living Down Under. Bal Thackeray, who heads the radical Shiv Sena party, said activists planned to disrupt matches involving Australians, like they did ahead of a Test match against Pakistan in 1999, when they dug up the pitch.
"We will not allow kangaroo cricketers to play in Mumbai and Maharashtra till the attacks on Indians are stopped," the ageing Thackeray wrote in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna.' "Our boys are being stabbed, burnt and shot at in that country and still our cricketers have no qualms in playing with them. Do they have any national pride?"
The murder of Nitin Garg, 21, in Melbourne earlier this month caused anger among Indians in Australia and overseas, and prompted India's foreign minister S. M. Krishna to suggest it would hurt ties. The murder followed a spate of violence against Indian students in Melbourne over the past 18 months that has included beatings, robberies and stabbings and has threatened Australia's education industry.