BHOPAL: As Gwalior prepares to host its first international cricket match in 14 years—the India-Bangladesh T20 clash on October 6—the right-wing organisation Hindu Mahasabha has intensified its protests against the game, calling for a bandh on match day.Hindu Mahasabha members protested in the city on Wednesday as India and Bangladesh arrived for the game, with the fringe group demanding that the match should not be hosted at any cost.”The BJP regime at the Centre is adopting double standards. On one hand, it claims to be the champion of the Hindutva cause in the country, while on the other hand, it has allowed the BCCI to host the Bangladesh cricket team, conveniently forgetting how a genocide of Hindus is being carried out in the neighbouring nation over the last few weeks,” the outfit’s national vice president Jaiveer Bhardwaj said.”The Hindu community in Bangladesh is under attack; it’s places of worship, residential and commercial properties are being targeted and women are being raped by jihadis. Still Bangladesh cricket team is being hosted in India. We won’t allow the match to happen in Gwalior, which is the Balidan Bhoomi of Veerangana Rani Laxmi Bai,” he added.Bhardwaj, who led the protests, added that a call has been given to the entire trader fraternity in Gwalior for observing ‘Lashkar Bandh’ on the day of the match.”We’ll go from door to door over the next three days to ensure the success of the Bandh in Lashkar (the heart of Gwalior city). We’ll ensure whatever we can to appeal to the Gwalior residents to boycott our cricket team’s match against a nation, where Hindus have been targeted by jihadis in an unimaginable manner,” Bhardwaj said.Hindu Mahasabha activists wielding black and saffron flags were reportedly detained by local police for holding a protest rally without permission from the administration.City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Ashok Jadon said 20 workers of Mahasabha have been arrested for demonstrating without permission, and preventive action is being taken.The protesters were planning to go to the stadium, he said.Gwalior will host the first of the three-match T20 series between India and Bangladesh, marking the return of international cricket to the city after 2010. The BCCI shifted the venue from Dharamshala to Gwalior due to ongoing renovation at the Himachal Pradesh venue.The last time India played here was in February 2010 in an ODI against South Africa, which saw Sachin Tendulkar become the first male cricketer to score a double hundred in the 50-over format.
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