IPL falls prey to politics

The IPL is slated to move out of India for this season as the government feels ill equipped to provide security protection for the matches because the IPL dates are clashing with the election dates. So we will still have the India Premier League but out side India. It may have sounded really funny if we did not have millions riding on this decision.

This decision seems like reiterating the point that India is an unsafe destination for any sports activity. If India is not confident enough to hold its own Premier League how do we expect that any other country will let their players go to India for any other tournament. This definitely casts a shadow on the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in New Delhi in 2010. This decision will just vindicate the world view that like Pakistan, the whole of South Asia including India is a volatile destination for conducting any sports activity.

This has not only caused a major dent in the Indian brand abroad but also largely spoilt UPA government’s political fortunes in the upcoming elections. Clearly the government doesn’t want to take the risk of a terrorist attack during the highly electric election season but in doing so it has also caused the national pride enough harm for the public to take notice while casting their votes. No proud Indian will acquiesce to our IPL being played on foreign ground unless they happen to be BCCI members or the IPL franchisee members who have millions riding on it. It’s surely a catch 22 situation for the UPA government.

One cannot blame the franchisee owners as they have huge monies riding on IPL to think emotionally. But one may think that this situation could have been avoided if BCCI would have given some thought to the election dates while deciding on dates earlier. What was Lalilt Modi thinking? Elections will be held sometime in April –May was a foregone conclusion. Shouldn’t he have discussed the matter with the government before finalizing the dates? Though this argument may also fall flat, as this security cover has become necessary after the terrorists attack on Sri Lankan players in Pakistan. Neither BCCI, nor the government had a clue that they would such an acute security problem. Of course expecting them to act with foresightedness and envisioning that after 26/11  attacks in Mumbai, security would be a big problem with clashing dates, is expecting a little too much from our politicians and cash rich and arrogant BCCI.

Hence, we have a situation here where all the parties seem to be caught in a catch 22 situation. And with elections approaching we have different state governments acting in different ways politicizing the issue. So Narendra Modi says that BJP governments were ready to provide cover but not the Congress state governments. Rajasthan CM accuses Lalit Modi of moving IPL out of Rajasthan because of personal vendetta. Maharashtra CM has reportedly refused to provide security cover because of seat sharing clashes with NCP (NCP chief Sharad Pawar being the head of BCCI). Surely, as I mentioned in my last post, elections are exciting times in India and unlike normal Indians, for our politicians, they are more important than cricket. This entire circus has sadly culminated in one of the most important sporting events in the country falling prey to mismanagement, greed and politics.

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