‘Seems like blood & cricket can flow together’: TMC MPs slam BJP over India-Pak match
Times of India | 15 September 2025
Kolkata: As India took on Pakistan in Dubai in an Asia Cup match, Trinamool netas on Sunday hit took aim at BJP with the latter's blood-and-water-cannot-flow-together comment in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.
Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra took to X and posted: "Blood & water can't flow together to Pakistan. But clearly blood & cricket can. Especially when Amit Shah's ‘merit-only' son's fortunes depend on it. May the best team win."
In an address to the nation after the Pahalgam terror attacks, PM Narendra Modi said, "Terror and talks cannot go together; water and blood cannot flow together." The decision to put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance came after the April 22 terror attack, where 26 civilians were killed.
Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary, who is also Bengal's junior sports minister, said that he was boycotting the match and the Asia Cup. "I am boycotting the India-Pakistan match as well as the Asia Cup," he said. While one should not compare sports with real life, the pain and sorrow of the Pahalgam victims' families should be understood as well, Tiwary added.
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee said nepotism in BJP was responsible for this. "Why India and Pakistan will play again? Amit Shah should be asked this question. His son, Jay Shah, is the chairman of the ICC. The nepotism is running high in the Indian govt. The jethu (father's elder brother) is Narendra Modi," he said.