RSS affiliate wants scrapping of OPPO’s sponsorship of the Indian cricket team

What’s the story?

Indian cricketers are all set to wear Chinese mobile brand OPPO’s logo on their jersey from the Champions Trophy. However, in a recent press release, an RSS official has asked for the intervention of the sports ministry in nullifying India’s upcoming association with OPPO. The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch wrote a letter to the Minister of Sports expressing his dissatisfaction over the Indian team’s use of the OPPO brand on their jersey.

“Money cannot be more important than national pride and welfare of our own citizens and industry and therefore we urge you to interfere in the matter and use your good offices to cancel the agreement entered into between OPPO and the BCCI,” the SJM said in his letter to Vijay Goel.

“Chinese goods have invaded Indian markets which are not only killing our domestic production but also negatively impacting employment generation efforts made by the government,” Ashwani Mahajan, SJM’s national co-convener, mentioned in the letter.

In case you didn’t know...

The BCCI, on the 7^th of March, announced India’s association with the Chinese mobile brand and declared it as Team India’s new sponsor, replacing Star India. The deal was finalised for a period of five years and is worth INR 1079 crores.

The heart of the matter

India imports a bulk of its products from China and the sponsorship deal hasn’t gone down too well with the RSS Affiliate. The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch have initiated a campaign to focus on production and consumption of local goods and therefore prune down on the import of Chinese products.

What’s next?

India will take part in the Champions Trophy that begins early June in England just after the end of the Indian Premier League.

The Indian cricketing fraternity only recently recovered from the tussle regarding Team India's participation in the Champions Trophy and the letter from the SJM may spark a new issue, which may not help their cause if it’s looked into by the sports ministry.

Author’s Take

While the SJM's concerns are valid, the controversy isn’t healthy for Indian cricket. The major concern is that if OPPO is somehow turned down as the sponsor, then the Indian team would be without a sponsor for the lucrative ICC event. Cricket is a sport and should be free of such external disputes.