Australian cricketers can't play in Maharashtra: Bal Thackeray

Australian cricketers can't play in Maharashtra: Bal Thackeray

in.news.yahoo.com...

Mumbai: In the wake of the ongoing attacks on Indians in Australia, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray warned that his party would not permit the Australian cricket team to play in the city and state.

In a statement in the party mouthpiece "Saamna", Thackeray also rebuked the Indian cricketers for continuing to play with the Australian team.

"We shall not allow the Australian team to play in Mumbai and Maharashtra till the attacks on Indians in their land are stopped," he said.

Expressing his anguish over the increasing cases of violence against Indians, Thackeray also castigated the Indian team for playing with the Australian team.

Ok, this is all getting a bit ridiculous now. With many of the assaults in Australia still under investigation and no clear perpetrators in custody, let alone evidence pointing toward a concrete motive be it racial or otherwise, Bal Thackeray, the chief of a militant right winged party Shiv Sena has warned that his party won't let the Australian Cricket Team play in Mumbai.

Though the term 'warned' may seem relatively harmless to many, when you scratch under the surface of Shiv Sena, warnings often lead to violence. So who are Shiv Sena? Let's look at their origins firstly.

Mumbai, in many ways the economic capital of India, became the state capital of Maharashtra. On one hand, people belonging to the Gujarati and Marwari communities owned the majority of the industry and trade enterprises in the city.[1] On the other, there was a steady flow of South Indian migrants to the city, and who came to take over many white-collar employments. Once settled down in their jobs, they brought down their relatives and friends through referrals. The South Indians in powerful positions also had most of the South Indian staff working under them. This primarily enraged Shiv Sena.

In 1960 Balyasaheb Thackeray, a Mumbai-based cartoonist, began publishing the satirical cartoon weekly Marmik. Through this publication he started disseminating anti-migrant sentiments. On June 19, 1966, Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena as a political organisation. It should be noted that at the time of its foundation, the Shiv Sena was not a political party as such.[2]

Source: en.wikipedia.org...

Emphassis mine

OK.. so what we have here in a party founded on xenophobia and their hatred for immigration. This is interesting! So what else are they known for?

Party Violence:

In addition to its campaign against non-Maharashtraians in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena protests have been known to break down into violence and force in public in the name of protecting Hindutv from what it deems as corrupting western influences. The party has been involved in organized protests, pickets, market shutdowns and strikes that have been known to degenerate into violent clashes and in some instances riots. For instance, Shiv Sena activists have attacked shops in Mumbai selling gifts for Valentine's Day as part of the party's campaign against 'vulgar' western influences on youth.[47] Likewise, in 1998, Shiv Sainiks attacked movie theatres in Mumbai screening director Deepa Mehta's Fire, a highly controversial film based on a lesbian theme on the grounds that such films violated Hindu ethos and were immoral for Hindus to watch.

Source: en.wikipedia.org...

So not only are they anti immigration, they are also anti gay and anti western values. It kind of reminds me of the Taliban... yet these guys aren't to keen on Muslims either.

Allegations Of Violence Against Muslims:

The Shiv Sena has also been accused of orchestrating violence against Muslims. The Sena is widely alleged to have played an active role in the riots in Mumbai following the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992 in the north-Indian holy city of Ayodhya. On 23 January 1993, the then Congress-led Government of Maharashtra appointed Justice B.N. Srikrishna (then a sitting Judge of the Bombay High Court) to head a one-man commission with the task of investigating the riots. The Commission indicted the Sena for its direct involvement in coordinating the anti-Muslim riots, and accused Thackeray of "commanding his loyal Shiv Sainiks to retaliate by organised attacks against Muslims."[50] However, Thackeray was absolved of all criminal charges in July 2000 after seven years of judicial proceedings.[51]

I digress... So what does the man himself say on the Australian Cricketers?

Bal Thackeray, the firebrand leader of the Shiv Sena (Army of Lord Shiva), made the threat on the front page of the party's mouthpiece publication, Saamna, yesterday.

''We will not allow kangaroo cricketers to play in Mumbai … till the attacks are stopped on Indians,'' he wrote.
Source: www.3aw.com.au...

Kangaroo Cricketers? Sounds a bit racist to me! For the international community at ATS who may not be aware, in Australia, calling a white person a 'Skip' or 'Skippy' (i.e Skippy the Bush Kangaroo) is a term of racial abuse like the term 'Cracker' in America. So in many senses, what you are seeing here is the pot calling the kettle black. Racism is Racism... and before people start suggesting that one form of racism is more acceptable than another, I will tell you all that it's not. All forms of racism are a blight on humanity.

So how seriously should this warning from Shiv Sena be taken? How far are they prepared to go? Are the Aussie cricketers playing in the up comming IPL in any immediate danger?

IRM :shk:

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
Kangaroo Cricketers? Sounds a bit racist to me! For the international community at ATS who may not be aware, in Australia, calling a white person a 'Skip' or 'Skippy' (i.e Skippy the Bush Kangaroo) is a term of racial abuse like the term 'Cracker' in America. So in many senses, what you are seeing here is the pot calling the kettle black. Racism is Racism... and before people start suggesting that one form of racism is more acceptable than another, I will tell you all that it's not. All forms of racism are a blight on humanity.

So how seriously should this warning from Shiv Sena be taken? How far are they prepared to go? Are the Aussie cricketers playing in the up comming IPL in any immediate danger?

The indian media have had alot of fun nurturing and fuelling racial hostilities. They are going to have even more fun trying to cover the commonwealth games if half the athletes are too afraid to even enter the country. I wonder how their media will react.. they obviously cannot sanction it as that would be siding with potential terrorists.. but if they condemn the threat then that could have political consequences anyway.

Thanks for posting.

[edit on 14-1-2010 by riley]

Yeah, I noted that there was no official condemnation by the Indian government at the time of posting the Op (and at this time). I am on the lookout for one though and will post it if I find it... that's if they actually condemned them of course.

I would be expecting one today otherwise we can assume that the Indian Government either couldn't give a rats... or they themselves are well and truly 'owned' and fearful of Bal Thackeray & his thug tactics.

In regards to the Commonwealth Games, I think things are going to get very interesting as we draw closer to the games.

IRM

The Indian foreign minister's threats and remarks didn't just come out of the blue, this is obvious to the world. So what's the agenda ?

Indians themselves reported to the media on many occasions that they were being targeted by Lebanese Muslims. The Indian spokespersons choose to evade all that and focus on 'Aussie bashing'

Two Indians murdered an Indian in Wagga Wagga. Two INDIANS committed the murder ! Indian spokespersons choose to ignore that

Rumours abound that the stab/burn Indian victim in Vic. in fact set himself alight. Aussie police and politicians are keeping a lid on that. And the Indians spokespersons choose to ignore it

Obviously India is acting as mouthpiece for some other group -- acting ridiciously -- making absurd comments. Agenda ? Guess we'll know soon enough

As to 'racism' against Indians -- sure, makes great headlines. As long as those reading remain UNaware that there are more Sri Lankans living in Australia than remain in Sri Lanka. So how come the allged 'aussie racism' isn't apparent as far as Sri Lankans (and Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, etc.) are concerned ? Make sense to you that Aussies would 'target' only Indians, when the average Aussie couldn't tell you the difference between Indians and anyone else from the subcontinent ?

Nah, it's all a beat-up, to cater to an agenda. Anyone with a brain knows that, even without factoring in that there are 33,000 murders in India each year

Indian spokespersons appear to be on someone's payroll

Who's payroll ?

Originally posted by Dock9

As to 'racism' against Indians -- sure, makes great headlines. As long as those reading remain UNaware that there are more Sri Lankans living in Australia than remain in Sri Lanka. So how come the allged 'aussie racism' isn't apparent as far as Sri Lankans (and Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, etc.) are concerned ? Make sense to you that Aussies would 'target' only Indians, when the average Aussie couldn't tell you the difference between Indians and anyone else from the subcontinent ?

That's an interesting angle Dock9.


Sri Lankans in Australia:

Sri Lanka Austrailans are the 16th largest ethnic group in Australia, numbering 62,256. The city of Melbourne contains the plurality of Sri Lankan Australians - just under half. Fewer than 20% are estimated to live outside New South Wales and Victoria.

The number of Sri Lankan Australians, including the second-generation, counted in 1996 was 64,068. However, the actual figure is likely to be far higher, (perhaps twice as much) since Burgher Australians generally return themselves as of Dutch ancestry and, as such, cannot be separated out from statistical totals for Dutch Australians. The same applies to Sri Lankan people of other European, Eurasian and Malay origin. A calculation of the make-up of the Sri Lankan Australian population in 1991 estimated that Burghers were 47.9%, Sinhalese 26.2%, Tamils 18.7% and Moors 7.2%.[citation needed]

Source:en.wikipedia.org...

Indians In Australia:

At the 2006 Census 147,106 Australian residents declared that they were born in India, of which 79,025 held Australian citizenship. The states with the largest Indian-born residents were New South Wales (57,156), Victoria (52,853) and Western Australia (15,157).

64,968 declared they were Hindu and 49,975 declared they were Christian. Other minorities include Muslims and Sikhs. [2] 243,722 Australian residents declared that had Indian ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry. [6]

In 2009 there were an additional 90,000 Indian Students studying at Australian tertiary institutions according to Prime Minister Rudd.[7]

Source:en.wikipedia.org...

As you can see, there are far more Indians in Australia than Sri Lankan (Sri Lanka has a population similar to that of Australia so this is understandable) but there are simply no attacks on Sri Lankans in the media that I am aware of. You make a valid point!

On Topic:
Getting back to the topic of this thread, what do you think of Shiv Sena? Do you consider them a threat to Australian Cricketers, or Australian Tourists in India?

You mentioned that you felt a lot of propaganda was was being issued by the Indian media. Do you think a group like Shiv Sena could be involved in these perceptions?

IRM

[edit on 14/1/10 by InfaRedMan]

reply to post by InfaRedMan

''We will not allow kangaroo cricketers to play in Mumbai … till the attacks are stopped on Indians,'' Bal Thackeray, the firebrand leader of the Shiv Sena (Army of Lord Shiva), made the threat on the front page of the party's mouthpiece publication, Saamna, yesterday.


Shiv Sena activists, called Shiv Sainiks, prevented play between Pakistan and India at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium in 1991 when they destroyed the pitch.

Shiv Sainiks repeated the tactic in an India-Pakistan game at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi in 1999.

In the 1990s, the Shiv Sena led a governing coalition in Maharashtra. The party now holds 11 seats in India's national parliament and is the one of the main opposition parties in the Maharashtra state parliament.

The Shiv Sena has also been accused of orchestrating violence against Muslims and intimidating political opponents.

In November, Shiv Sena activists ransacked the Mumbai premises of two television news channels in retaliation for criticism of Mr Thackeray.

m.theage.com.au...

(just a little info and link there for those interested in the background of this issue)


As Indians have made abundantly clear to Australian and Indian etc. media --- the violence against them has been perpetrated by Lebanese Muslims in Australia

The stabbing and burning of an Indian in Wagga Wagga was perpetrated by two INDIANS and the issue is claimed to be MONEY

Personally, I believe Cricket Australia should advise the Indian Cricket Assocn. that Aussies will not be participating in any competition within the Subcontinent for the foreseeable future

Subcontinental political and activist parties are imposing their violence and political and religious wars on a third party, in this instance Australia

It's reasonable to suspect that Indians are being targeted *within* Australia by violent activists from the Subcontinent. In other words, there's strong reason to suspect that violent activists in India are using Australia to expand their religious and other agenda and in order to gain a wider platform via international media

It's NOT beyond the bounds of possibility that Shiv Sena activists have 'sacrificed' (via stabbing and murder) a few of their own in order to justify their current screeching about 'racism'

NOR is beyond the bounds of possibility that fanatical Shiv Sena members are burning themselves in order to gain wider attention for their party and alleged causes

Aussies are the HOST nation

Aussies are the meat in the sandwich .. the PATSIES

Violent Lebanese Muslims attack Indians AND their Australian hosts

Shiv Sena members seek to gain attention by playing victim and using international cricket as a vehicle

I'd be more than happy if a total ban on migrants from the subcontinent were declared, with more than a few deportations as well

not to mention a boycott by Australian cricket of the subcontinent

because even if Australia played Pakistan or India on neutral ground, Shiv Sena would doubtless seek to violently sabotage such attempts

Finally, behind the facade of Shiv Sena --- who is really financing this party ? Who is pulling the strings ? Who is organising the attacks on Indians ? WHO is promoting Australia within the Indian media as 'racist' ?

WHO practices 'divide and rule' worldwide ?

WHO orchestrates 'multiculturalism' worldwide (with the exception of their own stolen territories, that is) ?


I smell the Usual Suspects' fingerprints all over this 'racist' beat-up

reply to post by Dock9


I'm not really seeing the conspiracy or agenda you allude to, but what I do see is a political party based in hypocrisy who practice their own form of racism and intolerance thinly veiled as nationalism.

It's evident they create a radical fervor amongst their members which often degrades into violence. Like many radicals, they practice a doctrine of fear.

Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray had said that activists would target lucrative Indian Premier League games involving Australia cricketers in Mumbai.

Source:www.hindustantimes.com...

How they will target them is a mystery but if history is anything to go by, it could get very ugly. Pitch invasions, pitch sabotage or crowd rioting could be a very real possibility.

IRM

[edit on 14/1/10 by InfaRedMan]

There is an agenda, and it's very simple.

THE TIMES OF INDIA
India seeks uranium supply from Australia
26 May 2009

Despite Kevin Rudd-led government's policy on not selling uranium to a non-NPT signatory, Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh underlined India's expectation that Australia would change its policy.

Notice the wording.
India EXPECTS Australia to change it's very strict policy on not selling uranium to nuclear powers which refuse to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty India was a signatory, but withdrew, along with Israel, Pakistan, North Korea.

Aussies have never forgotten Pig-Iron Bob, our PM who insisted on selling iron to the Japanese, knowing it would be used in their invasion of China. Later, of course, it was used against us. We would be horrified if our government was to sell uranium to India under the present circumstances.

So why would the Indian High Commissioner express confidence that we will change our policy?
Did they have some plan up their sleeves to force this change?

The Australian education sector is worth 15 billion dollars, our third largest industry after iron and coal. At present we have ~90,000 Indian students here. An attack on this sector of Australia is quite damaging in this difficult economic climate.


The battle-cry from India appears to be:

Uranium or Ur reputation!