The Bharatiya Janata Party has reacted strongly to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's criticism of the Indian cricket team's decision not to engage in the customary post-match handshakes with the Pakistan team during the T20 Asia Cup 2025, stating that it was a reflection of the "love for Pakistan" that resides in the "DNA of the Congress".
Tharoor, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, on Thursday said that India should not have played Pakistan if it felt so strongly about it. "But, if we are going to play them, we should play in the spirit of a game, and we should have shaken their hands."
The BJP responded saying that while India played Pakistan since the BCCI was bound by ICC norms, the players were under no obligation to shake hands with the opposition team.
"Why will we shake hands with Pakistan? We had to play due to ICC norms. BCCI is bound by ICC norms...But we defeated Pakistan twice in Dubai. This has made India proud. Congress can't rise above its affection for Pakistan," BJP spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo said speaking to ANI.
"The love for Pakistan that resides in the DNA of Congress comes out. This is the same Congress that allowed partition just to bring Nehru ji to power...Even in the last election, a tall leader in Pakistan had called for the victory of Rahul Gandhi," he added.
Tharoor earlier said that the conduct of both teams lacked the spirit of the game.
"If the Pakistani team, having been insulted the first time, decided to insult us back the second time, it shows that the spirit of the game is lacking on both sides," Tharoor said while also referring to the India-Pakistan clash during the 1999 World Cup when both sides shook hands on the field even during the Kargil War.
"On the very day the soldiers were dying for our country, we were playing the World Cup in England against Pakistan. We were shaking their hands even then because the spirit of the game is a different spirit from what goes on between countries, between Armies and so on," he added.
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