SP MLA thinks Indian cricket team wearing orange jerseys is 'saffronisation'
Mumbai, Jun 26: With the Indian cricketers likely to don orange jerseys during a few World Cup encounters, Abu Azmi, a Samajwadi Party MLA from Mumbai, Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to `saffronise' everything.
The Indian squad may sport orange jerseys in some World Cup games including one against hosts England as India's blue jersey clashes with England's own blue. The International Cricket Council has asked all teams except England to carry two sets of uniforms.
Speaking to reporters outside the state legislature, Azmi said he feels happy when the Indian cricket team wins.
"But Modi wants to paint the entire country with saffron," he said.
"Today, jerseys are being made saffron. Modi-ji, the person who decided the colours of the national flag was a Muslim leader. If you want to pick a colour for the jersey, pick the tricolour, I won't mind," he said.
"But it will be unjust if you paint everything saffron.....people should oppose it," Azmi said.
BJP MLA Ram Kadam said the opposition parties were running out of issues during the ongoing monsoon session.
"Hence they are politicizing what should be the colour of Indian team's jersey....Why not saffron? Why they hate saffron so much?" he said.
The BJP's flag has both green and saffron in it, he noted.
"Let the cricketers decide the colour of their jersey.
Will the opposition decide that?" he asked.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said the opposition parties were staring at a defeat in the coming Assembly polls, therefore they were indulging in "childish talk".
"What problem they have with saffron? Saffron is part of the tricolour and it was chosen for the jersey. What is the problem with that?" she asked.
Naseem Khan, a Congress MLA from the city, endorsed Azmi's charge of `saffronisation'.
"Be it sports, culture or education...it is very unfortunate that saffron politics is being played. It is the tricolour which must be respected first...current government is taking the country towards saffronisation, which will damage the country's unity," Khan said.
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2 Indian nationals part of crew of luxury cruise ship that reported hantavirus outbreak
London (PTI): At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.
The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, according to the report.
Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.
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The World Health Organization said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.
The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents - but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.
It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man - was taken off the vessel.
Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.
