Lalu Prasad wants Indian cricket team to return from Australia

Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said on Saturday that racism slur on Harbhajan Singh is not only an insult to the cricketer but it has humiliated the entire nation and Indian team should have been called back from Australia.

New Delhi, Jan 12 : Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said on Saturday that racism slur on Harbhajan Singh is not only an insult to the cricketer but it has humiliated the entire nation and Indian team should have been called back from Australia.

While talking to the reporters at Rail Bhawan on Saturday he gave the example of Rana Pratap, a Rajput king who had fought and gave his life for self-respect and said nothing comes before self-respect.

"I would have recalled the players as this is a question of country's self-respect," he said.

"The matter has not been settled yet. Harbhajan was insulted. It was also an insult to the country," said the Minister, who also heads the state cricket association in Bihar.

Harbhajan was accused of racially abusing Australian all-rounderndrew Symonds, but denied the charges.The BCCI then threatened to abort the tour unless the ICC dropped the charges.Harbhajan was allowed to play until the appeal was heard and West Indian umpire Steve Bucknor was replaced following criticism of his umpiring decisions.There were fears that the tour would be cancelled altogether until thendian officials agreed to proceed with the games after the ICC bowed to pressure and made a number of significant concessions. The tour is on "for the present" and they would continuously review the series.

ANI