PTI

Mumbai, Jun 2: Angry over the racial attacks on Indian students, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Tuesday said Australian players in IPL cricket teams should be removed till such incidents continue Down Under.

"Two things should be done immediately. Captains of Australian companies who have invested in India should be summoned and told that the business atmosphere would not be conducive till the attacks stopped," Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

"Secondly, Australian players in IPL teams should be removed. Team owners like Vijay Mallya, Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta should display nationalism by doing so," the Sena chief said.

"No matter how big an Aussie player in IPL team is, he should removed and told that it is impossible to keep him in
the team till the blood of innocent Indians is shed on his country's soil," Thackeray said.

He also lauded actor and friend Amitabh Bachchan for spurning an award by the University of Queensland to register his protest over the issue.

"What Amitabh did was right. He did not stop at registering his protest through mere words but conveyed to the University of Queensland that the attacks against Indians Down Under was an insult of all his countrymen," Thackeray said.

Upset with the recent racial attacks on Indian students studying in Australia, Bachchan, has refused to receive a honorary doctorate offered by The Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, in recognition of his contribution to the world of entertainment.

Bachchan is only the second person from India, after IT leader Narayan Murthy, to be chosen for such an honour from the University.

The doctorate was to be conferred in time to coincide with a retrospective of his films in the state of Queensland in July.