Tejashwi Yadav Urges India to Play ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan, Mocks PM Modi with ‘Biryani’ Remark

India to Play ICC Champions Trophy in Pakistan: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav has called for the Indian cricket team to travel to Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy next year, arguing that mixing politics with sports is detrimental.

Tejashwi Yadav in a recent media interaction said that sports should be kept separate from politics. The topic of India’s participation in 2025.

Champions Trophy has been a political issue given the strained relations between India and Pakistan. But he said these tensions should not decide the fate of sporting engagements.

To illustrate his point Tejashwi Yadav gave an example of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pakistan in 2015 when he went to former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s house and had Biryani with him.

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Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Tejashwi Yadav drew parallels with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan in 2015. “Involving politics in sports is not a good thing. Doesn’t everyone participate in the Olympics? Why shouldn’t India go to Pakistan? If the PM can go there to have Biryani, why can’t the Indian cricket team travel for a tournament?” news agency ANI quoted Tejashwi Yadav as saying.

Meanwhile, after the statement by Tejashwi Yadav, he has been facing notable criticism. Diplomatic experts responded to his statement, saying Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Pakistan in 2015 was part of an effort to promote diplomacy and foster peace, a far cry from sending an entire national team into a country where India continues to face grave threats from groups operating with impunity.

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They stated that by drawing such a comparison, Yadav belittled the complex and sensitive nature of national security in favour of short-sighted political messaging.

While the government has not taken any decision yet, BCCI has said it will do whatever the government tells it to do. Pakistan has refused to conduct Champions Trophy in a hybrid model where India would play their matches at a neutral venue.

I can confirm initially the PCB had looked at the possibility of a hybrid model on the condition that if India can’t play in Pakistan, then in future there would be hybrid models in all ICC events in India right until 2031 (ODI World Cup in India and Bangladesh) as Pakistan would not go and play in India," a source told PTI

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