Amid outrage over the beheading of a soldier at LoC, Shiv Sena on Monday stepped up the attack on the United Progressive Alliance government, saying 'patriots have no value' under the Congress rule and demanded snapping of sporting ties with Pakistan.
"Sonia Gandhi has time to go to Assam and wipe tears of Bangladeshi infiltrators, but she does not have time to meet mother and wife of martyr Hemraj," Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray said.
"Under the Congress rule, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have an upper hand, while patriots don't have even an iota of importance," the Sena leader said in a statement issued in Mumbai on Monday evening.
There is no expectation of any action from the government, Uddhav said. "Even Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde will say, 'the government has laid the carpet to welcome Pakistani cricket and hockey players to forget the pain (of Hemraj's beheading)," he mocked.
"You should decide whether Pakistan cricket and hockey players should be allowed to play here when jawans are being killed by Pakistan on the border," Uddhav said.
Uddhav's remarks came after the IPL-style Hockey India League on Sunday hit a road block with Shiv Sena supporters protesting against the participation of four Pakistani players in a scheduled practice session of 'Mumbai Magicians' team.
On January 8, Pakistan army regulars had infiltrated inside Indian territory in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir and killed and mutilated the bodies of Lance Naiks Sudhakar Singh and Hemraj Singh. The latter's family is demanding that his severed head be brought back from Pakistan.
