OPPO became Indian Cricket Team’s official sponsor in a grand event organised at JW Marriott Hotel in Mumbai. BCCI’s CEO Rahul Johri was present at the event and he unrelieved Team India’s new jersey with OPPO’s logo in the front.
While cricket fans were excited to see India’s new jersey, this deal didn’t go down too well with some right wing groups who are now demanding BCCI to cancel this deal due to ongoing tension between India and China.
An RSS affiliated, The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, has written a letter to Sports Ministry, demanding cancellation of this deal. SJM’s national co-convener Ashwani Mahajan wrote that Team India’s long-term deal with OPPO will only lead to more popularity of Chinese goods in India, which will further increase India’s dependency on China.
“This would not only misguide our youth in blindly going for buying Chinese brands but would also place us in a very awkward position and our campaign is likely to get badly affected by this.
“Cricket is the most popular sport in India and the Indian team is being watched by almost the entire country. Therefore the team should not wear the Chinese firm’s logo.” Mahajan wrote in his letter to Sports Ministry.
The Sports Ministry hasn’t replied to SJM’s letter but it will be interesting to see how they take up this matter.
Our take: Sports Ministry is unlikely to interfere in this deal as it has already been signed and canceling it will cause a huge loss to Board of Control for Cricket in India. And as far right-wing groups are concerned, they will not let this matter go easily. We will keep you updated.
More to follow…
