Roger Binny elected BCCI president, takes over from Ganguly
Mumbai (PTI): World Cup winner Roger Binny was on Tuesday elected as the 36th president of the BCCI, taking over from Sourav Ganguy to run the world's richest cricket board.
Binny, 67, was elected unopposed at its AGM (Annual general Meeting) here alongside Jay Shah, who was re-elected as the secretary for a second successive term.
The other office bearers who were elected unopposed included treasurer Ashish Shelar, vice-president Rajeev Shukla and joint secretary Devjit Saikia.
Binny, who played 27 Tests and 72 ODIs for India, takes charge ahead of the ODI World Cup in India next year.
However, there was no discussion on the chairmanship of International Cricket Council (ICC). The next ICC chairman will be elected during the board meeting in Melbourne next month.
"As far as India's representative to the ICC is concerned, it will be decided by the office-bearers. There was no discussion on the ICC chairmanship. Only matters on the agenda were discussed," a state unit official who attended the AGM told PTI.
It is unlikely that the BCCI will nominate its own candidate for the ICC chairman's position, with the October 20 nomination deadline approaching.
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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
