Bangladesh bans IPL broadcast in another retaliatory move
Dhaka (PTI): Bangladesh on Monday banned the broadcast of IPL's upcoming season in the wake of pacer Mustafizur Rahman's ouster from the world's biggest T20 league on BCCI instructions.
A statement from Bangladesh information and broadcast ministry stated that no "logical reason" was given by the BCCI while instructing IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to release Rahman from its 2026 roster.
The IPL is due to start on March 26.
The move to ban IPL broadcast came a day after Bangladesh refused to travel to India for next month's T20 World Cup and requested the International Cricket Council to shift all its league games to Sri Lanka, the co-host of the tournament.
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"No logical reason for such a decision (Rahman's release) by the BCCI is known, and such a decision has saddened, hurt, and aggrieved the people of Bangladesh," read the government notification.
"In this situation, until further notice, it is requested by order to stop the broadcasting/telecasting of all matches and programs of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"This order is issued with the approval of the proper authority and in the public interest," said the signed by assistant secretary Feroz Khan.
BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia, while announcing the diktat to release Rahman, had merely stated that it was being done because of "developments all around", without explaining the specifics.
The Indo-Bangladesh relationship has hit a rocky patch after the ouster of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India in August last year following anti-government protests.
She was sentenced to death in absentia by a tribunal for her alleged role in a deadly crackdown during the agitation in which several students were killed.
Hindus have been targetted for violent attacks since Hasina's ouster.
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No nation can progress unless small traders are protected: Arvind Kejriwal
Chandigarh (PTI): No nation can progress unless small shopkeepers and traders are protected and given ease of doing business, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.
Kejriwal made the remarks while addressing the maiden meeting of the Punjab State Traders Commission in Mohali, where he was accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
The former Delhi chief minister said that through the commission, local markets will be upgraded, and long-pending small issues of shopkeepers will be resolved.
He said the purpose of the commission is to make the tax system simpler, more transparent, and trader-friendly.
"Till now, in our country, traders and businessmen have been viewed with a very negative mindset. No matter which government or which party ruled, everyone treated traders as thieves," Kejriwal said.
"I pray that one day our government is formed at the Centre and we free you from GST. There is a kind of tax terrorism going on," he said.
Kejriwal termed the traders also a victim of politicians, who, he said, only remember them during elections and then, once in power, to extort money till the next election.
"I come from a trading family. I understand the pain and suffering of a trader. You may remember how, as children, we used to go to the village during summer holidays. My uncle there had a grocery shop at the bus stand. During summer vacations, many times I would manage the entire shop alone for days. I understand the pain of a shopkeeper," he said.
The AAP leader said the governments always talk about big investments everywhere. "But no one ever paid attention to the small shopkeeper running a grocery store, a clothing shop, a bread shop, a tile shop, or shops in small markets."
Attacking the rival parties in Punjab, he said that after their run was over, neither the Akali Dal nor the Congress would have dared to go among the public and seek honest feedback.
"After four years, they would face such abuse that I do not think the Congress government would have had the courage to pass around a microphone in a public gathering and say, speak whatever you want … If it had happened during the Akali Dal government, the microphone would not have returned," he said.
