"Why do they have a double nature?": Madan Rathore slams Opposition over stance on India-Pakistan match

Madan Rathore

BJP Rajasthan President Madan Rathore on Saturday criticised the Opposition for what he called its double standards over India's participation in the Asia Cup 2025 match against Pakistan.

Speaking to ANI in Jaipur, Rathore accused opposition leaders of "double standards" on India-Pakistan cricket ties, saying they alternately demand players be sent and then argue against participation.

"Now they have started saying that players should not be sent. Why do they have a double nature? Sometimes they say send, sometimes they say don't send. So this is not right. I think this double standard is not right," he said.

Rathore said that the same opposition that once invoked "sportsmanship" to send players now argues against participation.

Rathore said, "The whole country is saddened by Pakistan's behaviour, but these were the same leaders who, when our government refused to send players, used to say that we should send our players. They used to talk about sportsmanship."

Meanwhile, Congress MP Imraan Masood criticised the upcoming India-Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 match, calling it a business-driven event.

"This is a business... The rights to broadcast it are sold at very high prices... They don't care about the fact that it's only been a few days since our sisters' 'sindoor' has been wiped off... This is not the first time; earlier, we did not send our hockey team either," he said.

Masood criticised the government for allowing India's participation in the upcoming cricket match, calling it a matter of "shame."

He said, "They should not try to tell the rules. Those who wiped the 'sindoor' of our sisters, and you are going to play a match with them. You should be ashamed, and the government should also be ashamed that they do not have enough morality left in them that earlier they were saying that blood and water will not flow together, and now you are making them play cricket together."

Imran Masood's remarks come amid the outrage over India facing Pakistan in the Asia Cup on Sunday after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, during which 26 tourists were killed on April 22 by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in the name of religion.