Dalmiya’s Ultimate Guide for Survival
Jagmohan Dalmiya, Indian cricket’s Machiavelli and notorious survivor got a fresh lease of life when he narrowly won the presidency of the Cricket Association of Bengal by a slim 5-vote margin. Had Dalmiya lost this election to the Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, he would have been out of power from all major posts that he has held for the past 15 odd years in cricket’s national and international organizations. Ever since Dalmiya surfaced as a Cricket administrator there have been allegations about his style of functioning, his wheeler-dealer ways and his coercive attitude towards state cricket boards and clubs. Add to that broken friendships and allegations of corruption and you have a complete saga with all the elements of a Bollywood potboiler. The spat between Dalmiya and I.S. Bindra is part of cricketing folklore which saw Mohali, arguably one of the best stadiums in the country, being virtually blacklisted from the venues to hold international matches. Now, with I.S. Bindra in the current ruling faction, the knives are drawn out against Dalmiya. The troika of Pawar-Bindra-Dugarpur has been actively pursuing corruption charges against Dalmiya in the PILCOM case during the 1996 World Cup. Also, with the CPM overtly supporting their Police Commissioner for the CAB presidency, Dalmiya had his back against the wall. Whether the charges of corruption are proven against Dalmiya is eagerly awaited, what the CAB polls have thrown up is the level of politicization of sport, cricket in particular, that exists.
Budhadeb Bhattacharya’s diatribe against Dalmiya, where he equated his candidate as ‘good’ versus Dalmiya as ‘evil’ was unnecessary. The unsavory remarks drew flak from the grand old man of the CPM, Jyoti Basu as well and paradoxically helped Dalmiya in gaining public support as the oppressed rather than the oppressor. To see the level of politicization of cricket, one need not look far, the current President of the BCCI, Sharad Pawar, is the old war-horse of the NCP and Indian politics in general. As Agriculture Minister one wondered whether he would be able to don the mantle of cricket’s top administrator along with his crucial portfolio. As one saw price rise in food grains and farmer suicides, the doubt turned to firm belief that more work and time needs to be devoted by the honorable minister to his ministry rather than his cricketing ambitions. Further, while a debate rages about the Office of Profit in Parliament one wonders is the President of the BCCI with all his perks and first-class air travel not an Office of Profit?
While politician’s fascination with sport has been legendary, with prominent politicians heading various sporting bodies, the utter mismanagement by these politicians has been routinely brought to the fore and debated when failure after failure is seen at the international sporting events. While there is no arguing that politics and politicians have been part and parcel to sport, their resulting mismanagement has been duly and timely highlighted of late. Do sportspersons make better administrators than politicians? I think the jury is still out on that question. Either way, one fact is emphatically clear, politicians will remain part of sport for some time to come. Rather than fighting that inevitability one would be strongly advised to hold them more accountable rather than join the chorus of debate that’s has no seeming conclusion.
Jagmohan Dalmiya, Indian cricket’s Machiavelli and notorious survivor got a fresh lease of life when he narrowly won the presidency of the Cricket Association of Bengal by a slim 5-vote margin. Had Dalmiya lost this election to the Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, he would have been out of power from all major posts that he has held for the past 15 odd years in cricket’s national and international organizations. Ever since Dalmiya surfaced as a Cricket administrator there have been allegations about his style of functioning, his wheeler-dealer ways and his coercive attitude towards state cricket boards and clubs. Add to that broken friendships and allegations of corruption and you have a complete saga with all the elements of a Bollywood potboiler. The spat between Dalmiya and I.S. Bindra is part of cricketing folklore which saw Mohali, arguably one of the best stadiums in the country, being virtually blacklisted from the venues to hold international matches. Now, with I.S. Bindra in the current ruling faction, the knives are drawn out against Dalmiya. The troika of Pawar-Bindra-Dugarpur has been actively pursuing corruption charges against Dalmiya in the PILCOM case during the 1996 World Cup. Also, with the CPM overtly supporting their Police Commissioner for the CAB presidency, Dalmiya had his back against the wall. Whether the charges of corruption are proven against Dalmiya is eagerly awaited, what the CAB polls have thrown up is the level of politicization of sport, cricket in particular, that exists.
Budhadeb Bhattacharya’s diatribe against Dalmiya, where he equated his candidate as ‘good’ versus Dalmiya as ‘evil’ was unnecessary. The unsavory remarks drew flak from the grand old man of the CPM, Jyoti Basu as well and paradoxically helped Dalmiya in gaining public support as the oppressed rather than the oppressor. To see the level of politicization of cricket, one need not look far, the current President of the BCCI, Sharad Pawar, is the old war-horse of the NCP and Indian politics in general. As Agriculture Minister one wondered whether he would be able to don the mantle of cricket’s top administrator along with his crucial portfolio. As one saw price rise in food grains and farmer suicides, the doubt turned to firm belief that more work and time needs to be devoted by the honorable minister to his ministry rather than his cricketing ambitions. Further, while a debate rages about the Office of Profit in Parliament one wonders is the President of the BCCI with all his perks and first-class air travel not an Office of Profit?
While politician’s fascination with sport has been legendary, with prominent politicians heading various sporting bodies, the utter mismanagement by these politicians has been routinely brought to the fore and debated when failure after failure is seen at the international sporting events. While there is no arguing that politics and politicians have been part and parcel to sport, their resulting mismanagement has been duly and timely highlighted of late. Do sportspersons make better administrators than politicians? I think the jury is still out on that question. Either way, one fact is emphatically clear, politicians will remain part of sport for some time to come. Rather than fighting that inevitability one would be strongly advised to hold them more accountable rather than join the chorus of debate that’s has no seeming conclusion.
posted by Karan Thakur @ 1:41 AM
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