Colonel Anil Athale, a Chhatrapati Shivaji Fellow of the United Services Institute, is working on a project on internal security. He is also the coordinator of Pune-based think tank Inpad, affiliated with the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.
So a management guru turned cricket administrator, a leaderless government and a loser home minister have all combined to bring national shame to a country of 1.1 billion people.
The terrorists, inspired by the Mumbai drama of 26/11, in their caves in Swat or wherever in Pakistan, must be laughing their guts out. With one stroke, this bunch of nincompoops have dragged India down to the level of a failed state.
Also read: ‘IPL could’ve been held in India’
Right from the beginning, the IPL seemed like a Greek tragedy. There were obviously whispers of cutting the Maratha strongman down to size, and even louder rumours that the state leaders/officials wanted their pound of flesh. It was definitely a difficult situation. The only available window in a busy international cricket calendar coincided with the election schedule.
But it is a tragedy that neither party in the dispute, the IPL nor the government, looked at it from the point of view of national interest.
It is easy to dismiss the IPL as a money-making private tournament. So is the European Cup soccer. But no European politician dare trifle with the game. Does Mr Chidambaram want a money-losing event, to be subsidised by taxpayers’ money?
Maybe the arrogant Indian politicians will also learn their lesson. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to realise that not holding the IPL on grounds of lack of security will have repercussions on vital sectors like tourism and foreign investment.
Also read: Why England lost the IPL race to South Africa
It was intriguing that the apologists advanced arguments about the security of IPL on the basis of the attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore last month. Since when has Lahore become part of India? Do we accept that we have anarchy and well armed ‘Lashkars’ like Pakistan? Is it any wonder then that the world does not take us seriously? Forget Chindia. We are back to the good old Indo-Pak equation.
But is there no way out?
Certainly there is! Traditionally, the army stays away from the poll process (except in J&K or North East). It is also understood that the paramilitary forces are stretched on election duty. But why not use the army for the jobs that paramilitary forces do in providing stadium security and route securing etc? Luckily for us, in every major city and likely venue of matches the army is already present. In its long stint in internal security duties, the army is used to performing these tasks. Why is the government shying away from seeking army help? Or is scoring political points more important than national prestige?
Also read: Pakistani players want to play in IPL 2009
I remember an old incident of 1991. In that year, the opposition BJP party President declared that he will hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, then a hotbed of separatism. It was an obvious attempt to score a political point. But to the credit of the then government and the armed forces, despite the political motivation, Murli Manohar Joshi was provided all help and assistance to carry out his mission. The government and the armed forces realised that it was not a party but a national issue.
Terrorists have attacked hotels, railway stations and temples. Does this mean that during the election time we should stop travelling, not go to hotels or temples? By some quirk of fate, should the present elections result in a hung parliament and the country faces another general election in December 2010, just when the Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held, will we then scrap the Games?
The IPL format envisages each team playing every team twice. Could not the IPL management be a little more flexible and reduce it to one clash only? This is not as preposterous as it seems. Suppose the weather were to intervene, in a tight schedule like this, there would be no way out. Sort of a Duckworth-Lewis rule!
If I am not mistaken the soccer world cup follows this rule of one clash only. In fact the tournament may well become even more exciting. The IPL could revert to its original format again from next year. Of course, this would mean some loss of revenue, but the gain in national prestige, goodwill et al far outweighs this.
Also read: IPL franchisees turn to BCCI to deal with losses
Not acceding to this simple request would prove that the IPL managers’ interest is neither cricket nor nation, but simply money.
There is thus a clear way out of the present impasse. The government should requisition army help and tell the IPL to limit the tournament to 28 matches instead of the normal 59. The state governments should work with the help of army to provide security.
If the IPL refuses to accept this reasonable suggestion then the govt should use its clout and ban the travel of players. Mr Chidambaram may actually be surprised at the kind of support such a move would generate. It might even ensure that the Congress returns to power for showing its toughness and national spirit.
Special: All about IPL
The issue of holding IPL is not about cricket at all. It is simply this: Are we going to change our life because a bunch of fanatics do not like cricket/hotels/temples/Hindus/India?
More importantly, does a government that cannot guarantee the security of its people and their way of life deserve to remain at the helm?
The people will give their answer soon. But meanwhile, India’s name will have become mud in the comity of nations, at par with Darfur, Sudan, or Somalia.
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