Traders’ body opposes BCCI move to retain Chinese firm Vivo as IPL sponsor, writes to Shah

BCCI decision to retain Chinese mobile firm Vivo as its title sponsor was also slammed by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an RSS affiliate, Monday.

The Vivo IPL trophy (Representational Image) | IPLT20.com

Kanpur: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, opposing the BCCI’s decision to retain Chinese company Vivo as the title sponsor for Indian Premier League (IPL).

The apex trade body has also urged the Narendra Modi government to withhold permission for the event, scheduled to be held from 19 September to 10 November in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“We are constrained to bring to your kind notice the recent decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to retain Chinese company VIVO as its title sponsor for IPL to be held in Dubai,” reads the letter by Praveen Khandelwal, the CAIT national general secretary.

“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 Shri 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,” it adds.

The BCCI decision to retain Vivo was also slammed by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an RSS affiliate, Monday.

Ashwani Mahajan, the national co-convenor of SJM. took to Twitter to hit out at the BCCI. “Whole world is boycotting China, IPL is sheltering them,” he tweeted.

Indian Premier League (IPL) is a business & those running this biz are insensitive towards the nation and it’s security concerns. Whole world is boycotting China, IPL is sheltering them. They should understand that nothing is above nation, not even cricket. Ppl may #BoycottIPL https://t.co/6nyjJ1nCSE

— ASHWANI MAHAJAN (@ashwani_mahajan) August 2, 2020

BCCI decision smacks of lust for money: CAIT

In its letter, CAIT has argued that under the circumstances, “the decision of the BCCI smacks of its lust for money in utter disregard of safety of the people and that too involving Chinese companies”.

The letter has requested Shah and Jaishankar to “take immediate cognisance of the issue and not give any permission to BCCI for holding IPL in India or in Dubai or anywhere else”.
It cites the examples of the Olympics and Wimbledon that have been cancelled this year due to Covid-19.

“It is worthwhile to mention that mega international sports events like the Olympics and Wimbledon have been cancelled due to Covid,” the letter states. “Whereas, the BCCI being unable to hold IPL events in India has chosen to hold the event in Dubai, which clearly speaks of its resolve to hold IPL positively come what may. Such an attitude of BCCI is highly regretted and needs to be condemned in the strongest words.”

It further states that since the coronavirus outbreak in January, the Union Government has taken a number of steps to address the situation.

“Under the unlock advisories, holding any event is still banned. But adopting an escape route by BCCI to hold IPL in Dubai is nothing but to dodge the government,” it said.

Since the violent face-off with Chinese soldiers in Eastern Ladakh that resulted in the death of 20 Indian soldiers in June, CAIT has vehemently opposed Chinese goods.

The traders’ body had called for a boycott of 450 categories of Chinese products following the attack.

It then approached celebrities to ask them to stop endorsing Chinese products, including mobile phones such as Oppo, Xiaomi and Vivo, among others.