Cricket intertwined with politics

THE Pakistan cricket team that is in Bharat to participate in the ODI World Cup is not particularly strong. Yet, it has attracted much attention. It is not only cricket aficionados who are agog with excitement. Even old Mary, our house help of 30 years, who does not know the difference between cricket and football, rushes out of the kitchen — even when she is busy cooking — when she hears shrieks and shouts emanating from the television in the adjoining room.

The BJP’s propaganda machine is sure to capitalise on India’s victory over Pakistan in Ahmedabad.

Ever since Roger Binny, the quiet, unassuming Anglo-Indian all-rounder who was part of Kapil Dev’s World Cup-winning team in 1983, was plucked out of virtual obscurity in Bengaluru and installed as the president of the BCCI, the richest and most powerful body in world cricket, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah has been the undisputed boss of Indian cricket. Jay’s father is the second-most powerful man in the country today.

“West Indies is cricket and cricket is West Indies,” wrote Sir Vidiadhar Naipaul, the great West Indian writer, decades ago. Those were the days when the Caribbean islands produced the three Ws — Worrell, Weekes and Walcott. Cricket does not command the same passion there anymore. The Indian subcontinent has outstripped the West Indies by a long shot, just as the West Indies had once replaced England and Australia as the prime movers of the game in the world.

Writing about Ranjitsinhji, the Maharaja of Nawanagar (Saurashtra) after whom the Ranji Trophy was named, AG Gardiner — better known by his pen-name ‘Alpha of the Plough’ — had referred to him as “the Prince of a small State, but the king of a great game”. Ranjitsinjhi was followed by Vijay Merchant, the gentleman-cricketer who captained the national team but ran his textile mill in Bombay for a handsome living.

Cricket is no longer a gentleman’s game. For talented players, it can develop into a profession, where a lucrative living can be made if one is really talented and of course, disciplined. And since the game has become hugely popular with the young and even the old, money has followed. And where the money is, the politicians will not be far behind. Many Chief Ministers and would-be CMs have wormed their way to the presidentship of state cricket bodies. They have not played serious cricket, only the gully, soft-ball variety, if at all. Yet, they spare time from politicking because the job gives them a chance to spread their influence and provides easy access to plentiful funds.

Amit Shah was a spectator at the India-Pakistan match. It gave him an opportunity to relax for a while. He was seen in the company of his wife and a granddaughter, a more pleasant company than what he is accustomed to. His presence was recorded in the memory of over one lakh spectators, many of whom would be voting in elections when and where they are held. And not only the spectators but also the TV viewers in millions, I am sure, were entertained when they saw Amit Shah with his granddaughter on his lap and when she was seated next to him.

The BJP’s propaganda machine is sure to capitalise on this great victory of the Indian team at the Narendra Modi Stadium, named after our Prime Minister after dropping its original name of Sardar Patel Stadium. Our sports contingent did exceedingly well at the Hangzhou Asian Games, winning 107 medals. That, too, is being attributed to Modi.

The BJP is well on its way to breaking all sorts of records, including the number of arrests of detractors, critics and Opposition leaders. In my 94-year memory, only the colonial power had ventured to arrest critics and opponents of its regime, but never as a routine measure.

The World Cup has thrown up a memorable upset. England, the ‘mother of cricket’, lost to a tyro, Afghanistan. For two centuries, it had tried to tame the Afghans in a race with Tsarist Russia — and failed on the battlefield. Never would it have imagined that the team of young Afghans, led by their spin bowlers, would vanquish them on the cricket field.

A persistent and universally believed rumour about the India-Pakistan match at the Narendra Modi Stadium is that the tickets on offer to the public were scooped up within an hour of them being put up for sale. Even though these tickets were priced beyond the reach of the common man, they quickly vanished. But they were available for the well-heeled and the nouveau riche for figures exceeding Rs 1 lakh. If this is true and like most citizens I believe it to be true, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has a big job on its hands.

Where has the unaccounted money gone? It could not have gone to the coffers of the BCCI or the Gujarat Cricket Association or their office-bearers. Some individuals must have become insanely rich! Who are they? Are they aligned to any political party? Will this black money be used in the coming Assembly and Lok Sabha polls? This is the 64-dollar question. The police of Gujarat, and especially of Ahmedabad, must be aware of the entire scam, but their lips will be sealed. The ED and the EC (Election Commission) should get involved in an inquiry to allay the suspicions of the disturbed citizens. The people of Gujarat may not look unkindly or even askance at such shenanigans, but the party that professes to be ‘one with a difference’ should not close its ears to such rumours. There is too much money involved.

There were many reasons for having this fixture involving the two traditional rivals at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Firstly, it would attract a capacity crowd. Secondly, the tournament was scheduled close to the Assembly elections in five states. An Indian victory would engender nationalist sentiments, which could be channelled by the party’s propaganda machine (a well-oiled one) directly to our supreme leader.

The two above-mentioned reasons can be accepted as legitimate, but if there is a money angle also, it is truly sinful and unacceptable. The Delhi Police and the ED, which have ascribed a Chinese connection to the funds acquired by NewsClick to arrest its founder and HR head, should, in all fairness, conduct a probe into the allegations of black marketeering of tickets for the India-Pakistan World Cup match played in Ahmedabad.