Sena spits venom against Sachin again

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s nationalistic ‘Mumbai for all’ comment was targeted yet again by the Shiv Sena as party leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the cricket icon may be great, but can never be greater than Maharashtra.

Rajya Sabha MP Raut wrote in Shiv Sena mouth-piece ‘Saamna’ that Tendulkar is not a true Maharashtrian as he never did much to promote cricketers in the state.

Raut said that though the cricket legend has reached many milestones in the game, but his achievements are not bigger than the state.

The Sena compared the batting maestro with Sunil Gavaskar who it hailed as a "true Maharashtrian". Comparing Tendulkar to Gavaskar (60), Raut alleged, "There has been no instance of Sachin extending a helping hand to other Marathi cricketers. Forget others, he did not even support Vinod Kambli." "In contrast, Gavaskar when he captained India, had half the team drawn from Mumbai and Maharashtra. He gave Test caps to many Marathi players including Suru Naik and Zulphikar Parkar at least for one match," he said, while also acknowledging Tendulkar`s greatness as a cricketer. "In this context, Gavaskar is a genuine `Maharashtrian` and the whole country loves him even now in the same way," the article claimed."Players like Sachin have become rich because of game of cricket. Sachin`s wealth has crossed Rs 200-crore mark. We expect Sachin to be as `proud` of Maharashtra as Saurav Ganguly is of Bengal," it said. "Rahul Dravid too is a Marathi player but he is loyal to Karnataka," Raut said. Thackeray`s remarks on November 16 had evoked angry reactions from a host of political leaders as also the BCCI, who came down heavily on the Shiv Sena chief for criticising Tendulkar, saying his statement was just right and nobody could take objection to it. Thackeray had said that Tendulkar had, through his remark, "left the crease and moved to the pitch of politics" and this had hurt the Marathi psyche. Earlier, Tendulkar had said, "I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely proud of that. But I am an Indian first. And Mumbai belongs to all Indians."Shukla ridicules Sena`s latest attack Congress Rajya Sabha MP and BCCI`s Finance Committee chairman Rajeev Shukla ridiculed Shiv Sena`s latest verbal attack on senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, saying the party was only harming its own image by criticising the revered cricketer. Shukla ridiculed the latest attack, saying, "Since Thackeray has restrained himself from writing anything against Sachin Tendulkar, his newspaper`s editor Sanjay Raut, who is also my colleague in Rajya Sabha, has started." "I think he should realise that by criticising Tendulkar, he is only harming his own party. Whatever he says against Tendulkar will reduce his party`s votebank in Maharashtra because no Maharashtrian is liking what they are saying," he said. "Drawing parallels between Gavaskar and Tendulkar or pitching him against Kambli or saying that he hasn`t contributed anything to Maharashtra, I don`t think anybody will subscribe to this kind of argument," Shukla added. The BCCI, however, distanced itself from Shukla`s comments and said the views expressed were his own. "Mr Shashank Manohar, the President of the BCCI, has clarified that Mr Rajeev Shukla has reacted to the comments made by the Shiv Sena on Sachin Tendulkar, in his individual capacity, and not on behalf of the BCCI," Board secretary N Srinivasan said in a statement.