Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday compared India’s emphatic cricket victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 final to the military operation launched by the Indian armed forces in May following the Pahalgam terror attack.
“Operation Sindoor on the games field. Outcome is the same — India wins! Congrats to our cricketers,” Modi said in a post on X.
The Prime Minister’s remarks, which likened a sporting contest to an armed operation, have sparked controversy and drawn criticism from opposition leaders, who accused him of “politicising the game”.
“It is clear from his tweet that, be it air, water, or sports, he brings politics into everything to polarise,” Maharashtra Congress President Harshvardhan Sakpal told a news agency.
The Congress leader said that while the party takes pride in India’s victory, “this is not the first time India has won the Asia Cup,” implying that the PM’s comment was unnecessarily loaded with political messaging.
The India–Pakistan matches in this year’s tournament had already been shadowed by the Pahalgam terror attack as the Opposition had called for a boycott of the fixtures in the wake of the May conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
But when the matches went ahead, they were marred by a series of controversies. In the first match, a row erupted after skipper Suryakumar Yadav refused to shake hands with Pakistani captain Salman Agha, followed by controversial gestures by certain Pakistani players in the Super Four clash.
The final, too, ended in drama when Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Asian Cricket Council, allegedly walked away with the Asia Cup trophy and medals after the Indian team refused to accept them from him.