CAIT opposes BCCI decision to retain Chinese firm Vivo as IPL title sponsor

India’s apex trader body -- Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) -- has opposed the decision taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to retain Chinese firm Vivo as title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

They have written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to apprise them of their stance as well.

The trade body has urged the Centre to not grant permission to hold the event that will take place between September and November in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), The Print reported.

The letter undersigned by CAIT National General Secretary Praveen Khandelwal to the Union ministers read: “At a time when Chinese aggression on Indian borders in last month gave much rise to the sentiments of people of India against China and the Union Government under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is espousing his call for ‘vocal for local’ and ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’, the decision of the BCCI runs contrary to the broad policy of the government.”

After the June 15 violent clashes between Indian and Chinese troopers along the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh, the Centre had banned 59 Chinese apps. Shortly after that the BCCI had announced it would review the sponsors of IPL 2020.

The official Twitter handle of IPL had posted the following tweet: “Taking note of the border skirmish that resulted in the martyrdom of our brave jawans, the IPL Governing Council has convened a meeting next week to review IPL’s various sponsorship deals.”

However, BCCI decided to retain Vivo as its title sponsor as it would have been difficult to get new sponsors at a short notice given the current financially difficult climate. However, the board's decision has invited angry reactions from several quarters of the country.