NEW DELHI: The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has led to widespread protests across the country and one of the majorly affected areas is West Bengal.
And with the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction in Kolkata a little over 72 hours away, franchises are keeping a close eye on the turn of affairs in the City of Joy, IANS reports.
Speaking to the newswire, a senior official of one of the franchises said that it was but obvious that one would want to know the situation as there have been reports of violent protests in the state.
“Not too worried, but yes, an eye has to be kept on developments. With the auction on Thursday and rallies on in the state from today, we need to keep monitoring the situation for sure,” the official said.
An official of another franchise said that the majority of the members attending the auction will be returning to base only on December 20 and arrive in Kolkata on Tuesday, so in that case the situation needs to be observed.
“See, while most of the owners might reach on December 18 and leave on December 19 post the auction, the rest of the team members will be returning only the day after and will be reaching the city by tomorrow. In that case, the situation will obviously need constant observation,” the official said.
Another franchise said that while there have been no official request sent to the BCCI to tighten securities at the venue of the auction, the ‘wait and watch’ policy is definitely being followed.
“We are keeping an eye, but no, we haven’t sent any official request to tighten security at the venue of the auction,” the official told IANS.
A senior member of another franchise said that the teams have complete faith in the planning of the BCCI. “To be honest, yes, we are keeping an eye on the protests and all. But, we are also pretty confident that the board will take all necessary action to ensure that there is no problem in the organisation of the auction. Some of our guys will reach the city tomorrow itself and there has been no word from BCCI on any change or anything,” the official said.
Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan raise concerns about students of Jamia
Meanwhile, even as the Indian sports fraternity at large kept off the subject (unlike in the case of the recent encounter killings of the accused in the Hyderabad rape and murder case where many “went with the flow” in supporting the extra-judicial killings), cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra and veteran India pacer Irfan Pathan were the honourable exceptions.
“Political blame game will go on forever but I and our country is concerned about the students of #JamiaMilia #JamiaProtest,” Pathan tweeted.
Former India opener Chopra said that images of students clashing with police at various institutions over the contentious CAA were deeply disturbing and crushing voices of dissent will only turn the agitators against India.
The 42-year-old former batsman, who played 10 Tests for India, took to Twitter on Monday to express his concern.
“Deeply disturbing visuals from educational institutions across the country. Teary eyed. They are one of us. These kids are the future of this country. We don’t make India great by silencing their voices with the use of force. You’ll only turn them against India,” Chopra wrote on his Twitter handle.
Chopra’s and Pathan’s tweets came in the wake of excessive violence the police resorted to against students following the protests around Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi and Nadwa College in Lucknow.
