VCA: A very Manohar place

Rohit Mahajan

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Tribune News Service

Nagpur: Monarchs don’t love democracy, because democracy takes away their “god-given right” to govern and bequeath power and wealth to their children.

Cricket in India, with its power and money, has its own set of monarchs.

The Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) was the first BCCI unit to accept the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee.

Former VCA president Shashank Manohar — son of another past president, VR Manohar, and father of a former VCA vice-president, Adwait Manohar — resigned as BCCI’s president in May last year, saying that “I’m not a person who is capable of implementing them (Lodha Committee recommendations)”. But four months later, VCA decided to accept the Lodha recommendations and embrace change. 

Family talent 

Adwait Manohar resigned from two BCCI sub-committees in 2015, the day his father took over as BCCI president. Last year, two-term VCA vice-president Adwait became ineligible to contest VCA elections as per the Lodha Committee recommendations. Thus, after a very long time, there was no Manohar in VCA’s executive body. 

Adwait had become the youngest VCA vice-president ever, at age 31, in 2011. A rising lawyer, he was good enough to play six first-class matches for Vidarbha, though his batting average of 15.41 suggests he did well to focus on law.

Shashank’s grandfather was a lawyer associated with Jan Sangh; Shashank’s father VR Manohar is known for his proximity to Sharad Pawar and served as Maharashtra’s advocate general; Shashank’s brother Sunil has also served as Maharashtra’s advocate general. Incidentally, Sunil Manohar’s son, Atharva Manohar, is a budding young player who has represented Vidarbha in junior cricket. Adwait — cricketer, lawyer, administrator — is clearly a remarkably talented young man. It’s all in the genes perhaps, you’d say. No, it’s all due to nepotism and concentration of power, detractors say.

Admirers

There are not too many detractors of Shashank Manohar, in fact. There is much to admire about him — he’s a quiet, private person who stays away from the limelight, unlike many other BCCI officials. VCA is among the best-run units of BCCI, though it has done little to promote cricket out of Nagpur. It has a big cash reserve, which means money is not being siphoned off, as seems to be the case with many other associations, such as Delhi, for instance. VCA’s stadium is probably the best cricket stadium in India.

But VCA presents a classic case of monarchy through democracy. Asked if the Lodha Committee’s recommendations had ended the Manohar reign in VCA, a life member said: “Oh that’s not a problem. Every decision is still finalised by sahab (Shashank Manohar).”

This man swears by the Manohar clan and says that he can’t even dream of voting against any Manohar if there’s voting in an election. Anand Jaiswal is VCA’s president, but there is no question over where the real power lies. “Jaiswal is a lawyer, too, and is trusted by the Manohars,” a VCA member said. The previous president, Prakash Dixit, had served in VCA under Shashank’s father in the 1980s and 1990s. Both are considered Manohar family loyalists. 

Tight control

VCA’s constitution stipulates a maximum of 1,200 members. A large number of them have been inducted during the tenures of the Manohars. “We can safely say that at least 800 members are Manohar family loyalists,” says a member. An insider who is not part of VCA pegs the number at “at least 950”. Vacancies caused by deaths or resignations are filled every year. “There were less than 20 vacancies this year, but hundreds of new applications,” says a non-voting VCA member.

Asked what were the criteria to select new members, he simply laughs and says: “You know what the criteria would be… This is India. You need to have a connection to sahab. And if you want to become a voting member, the connection to sahab better be a high-power broadband connection!”

“There is no chance that the Manohars can ever be evicted,” says a non-voting member of VCA’s club at the VCA stadium at Jamtha, 18km from the city. “If all the voters are selected by them, how can they lose any election?”

This is how cricket’s monarchs rule, directly or through proxy — they control list of voters who elect the new ruler. One way to dethrone them is through the bigger democratic power of politicians, who have the state’s machinery at their disposal. This is how power was snatched from the Rungta clan in the Rajasthan association, for instance. The other possibility of them being dethroned lies in their flunkeys getting addicted to power and becoming ambitious, leading to a rebellion.

Rebellion? No chance! Even those who don’t like the dominance of the Manohar family discuss VCA in hushed voices. Manohar is the man who caused India’s defeat to Australia in 2004, providing a grassy wicket that helped Australia’s pacers. Even his admirers admit that, and say that Manohar was motivated by BCCI’s politics. They also admit that there are “issues” in VCA, but they too don’t wish to speak on record.

Right now, no possibility exists that the House of Manohar could face rebellion.

Issues in VCA 

• Vidarbha’s district associations are not affiliated with VCA
• VCA’s residential academy in the old stadium in the city has been closed because the “returns” were not commensurate with the expenses
• A huge sum of money (allegedly up to Rs 50 crore) was transferred from VCA to the VCA club at Jamtha, next to the cricket stadium, in order to obviate the Lodha Committee recommendation that money meant for cricket was not to be spent on club related activities

Manohar Protocol 

Family first? Shashank Manohar’s father is a former VCA president; his son is a former Ranji cricketer and former VCA vice-president, made ineligible by Lodha Committee recommendations

Friends indeed: VCA’s top officials are proteges of Manohar. A large number among 1,200 VCA members were inducted during the reign of the Manohars