Following is the open letter written by Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray in Monday’s Shiv Sena party organ Saamna:

Dear Sachin, 

You played like a Badshah in cricket…You won international fame, you earned huge amounts of money. Nobody grudges you for that, rather we are proud of you…You shine like a sun in the world of cricket..But you said in a press conference that ‘I am  proud of being a Maratha and a Maharashtrian, but first of all I am an Indian’…

Your straight drive saddened the minds of Marathis. ..because you left the pitch of cricket and came over to a political pitch, and there too you jumped your gun..On hearing you say that Mumbai belongs to everybody, the Marathi mind was saddened, there was no need for saying so…You are ‘run out’ on the Marathi mind’s pitch….

105 persons sacrificed their lives to get Mumbai, the same Mumbai cannot belong to every Tom, Dick and Harry’s father (kisi ke baap ki nahin)..and if any body tries to delink Mumbai from the rest of Maharashtra, then the Marathi manoos (people) will not hesitate to wring off his neck…

Sachin, remember one thing, when you shower fours and sixers from your bat, people applaud, but on the issue of justice and rights for Marathis, if any body uses his tongue as a bat and showers fours or sixers against the Marathis, the Marathi manoos will not bear it…So, whatever you earned on the cricket pitch, do not fritter away on a political pitch..I am giving you this friendly advice for your own sake..

Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra 

Bal Thackeray

Shiv Sena Pramukh