One-upmanship makes for interesting politics, but it involves sports, it isn't a pretty sight at all
IN THE GAMES politicians play, the loser is cricket.
The above sentence sums up the sordid saga of the India-Pakistan World Cup T20 match that was supposed to be held in the cool climes of Dharamshala.
A natural and pertinent query to the Indian Cricket Board would be “Why was such a match, probably the most important one of the group stage, given to the hilly state of Himachal Pradesh? With so many metro cities — Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai — awaiting their turn to host a highvoltage match, the only reason to allot such a game to Dharamshala was BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur.
The son of former state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Thakur is the driving force of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) and at the forefront for bringing this tiny place on the cricket world map.
A sitting Member of Parliament and president of the youth wing of the ruling party at the Centre, Thakur is obsessed with self-promotion through cricketing activities. He hardly loses an opportunity to appear on television whenever a cricketing matter makes it to primetime on Indian news channels. But this time, he probably forgot that by hosting such an important game, he was inviting trouble from the quarters that were waiting for this moment for a long time.
How come Thakur forgot the last week of September 2015, when Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister’s residence in an assets case, at a time when Virbhadra Singh and his wife were busy with preparations of their second daughter’s wedding in Shimla?
Although Thakur kept saying he was not aware of any such raid, the fact remains that Virbhadra Singh openly accused BJP’s youth leader for being vindictive for his personal gains, calling the timing of the raid “inhuman”.
Virbhadra, 82, had to cancel the wedding lunch for the guests at that time as raids were going on simultaneously at 12 places.
SUBHEAD: Self propaganda
Cricket is a great tool for any politician looking to promote himself. Young and over-ambitious, Thakur brought the IndoPak game to Dharamshala without realising the huge baggage of local politics attached to it. Like any other seasoned politician, Virbhadra Singh didn’t want Thakur to get mileage for it. And he got this heaven-sent opportunity without even trying hard for it.
When the families of the army personnel killed in the Pathankot airbase attack began to protest against Pakistan playing in Dharamshala, Singh grabbed the moment. With assurance of full security, Singh kept insisting that although the administration would provide security for the match, it wouldn’t use force against the families of the martyrs and their supporters if they protested on match day.
For those who want to know why this issue was such a sensitive one for this region, one has to understand that the Kangra region is a huge catchment area for recruitment into the armed forces. In simple words, Kangra belt comprises a huge vote bank for state political parties.
Linking it to politics, Thakur alleged that the state’s Congress government refused to provide security to the match after he raised in the Parliament the issue of fraud by the previous UPA Government in the Ishrat Jahan case and questioned Congress over its role in the JNU episode.
Thakur made yet another mistake here by saying that “Himachal CM is only playing politics with this game.”
Agreed. But then not playing politics goes against the nature of any politician! Thakur himself indulged in it last year. How could he forget the day of the terrorist attack at Gurdaspur, when he insisted that India wouldn’t and shouldn’t play with Pakistan?
Bit too much
Some HPCA officials admit that perhaps Thakur really did bite more than he could chew when Himachal got this huge, prestigious match to host. The organisational ability of the local staff was painfully exposed even during the initial stage of the tournament.
HPCA officials did their bit in promotion of cricket in the state at a crucial time by coining new phrases to describe the state: “Dev bhoomi, rann bhoomi and khel bhoomi”. The HPCA kept chanting catchy idioms to make the situation tug at people’s emotions.
The situation was made worse by the lack of communication between the HPCA, HP Police, ICC and the administration. There’s mistrust and tension between these entities. The police is controlled by the Virbhadra administration, which didn’t want the match to take place here. Clearly, this was a recipe for disaster.
In general, the BCCI has shown itself to be an organisation that’s extremely tolerant of disparate political ideologies and parties. Arun Jaitley, Rajiv Shukla, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Anurag Thakur, Sharad Pawar and the Chaudharys of Haryana have all, time and again, played their part in influencing the Board’s decisions.
This is one reason why Justice R M Lodha-led panel has recommended that politicians must stay out of cricket and sports.
More agony for HPCA
Thakur was desperate because he knew the ramifications of shifting an important game as an India-Pakistan clash. Within days, the HPCA faced more embarrassment because of its president’s high political ambitions when Indian Premier League team Kings’ XI Punjab requested the Board to shift its share of matches out of Himachal to Nagpur. Being BCCI and ICC president’s hometown, the matches were happily shifted out of Thakur’s native place.
It would not be easy for Thakur to retain the same kind of clout in BCCI post the Dharamshala jolt. In his speedy clamber to reach to the top, he has rubbed many of his old friends the wrong way. Thakur was more acceptable to many state associations during N Srinivasan’s era. However, the way he conducted himself during the indisposed Jagmohan Dalmiya’s short tenure, he has now become almost an untouchable for even his few close old associates.
The danger of being overly ambitious is quite real. One hopes that Thakur, spurred as he is by his unbridled ambition, realises sooner than later that the road to success is always slow and steady.