Mumbai, November 22
Continuing its diatribe against batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar, the Shiv Sena in today’s edition of its mouthpiece, Saamna, said he was not a ‘genuine Maharashtrian’.
Departing from the tradition, the article was attributed to editor Sanjay Raut rather than Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, in what observers see as room for the aging leader to wriggle out of a possible controversy in the near future. The article alleged that Tendulkar did not do enough for Maharashtrian cricketers even while he was the captain of Team India.
‘Saamna’, however, eulogised former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar as a ‘genuine Maharashtrian’ instead for his ‘help’ to cricketers from the state when he was the skipper. Incidentally, Gavaskar is a known critic of the Shiv Sena and had spoken out against the party’s cadres during the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai. The paper noted that Gavaskar had helped players like Suru Naik and Zulphikar Parkar get a break in the Indian team.
The write-up alleged that Sachin had earned as much as Rs 200 crores during his stint as a cricketer and did not even help his
friend Vinod Kambli when he wanted to return to the Indian team. “Sachin should be proud of Maharashtra as Saurav
Ganguly is of Bengal,” the article said.
Today’s article comes days after another article, attributed to Thackeray, hit out at Tendulkar for his comments on being a proud Indian.
