UNION agricultural minister and former BCCI strong man Sharad Pawar announces in typical pre poll hype that a ‘Marathi manoos’ should be made the Prime Minister. Minutes later Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan reiterates that there is no vacancy for the PM’s job. Now let us look at the facts, while we are aware there is a security threat percept to the ill fated IPL Season 2, is there also a political hue attached to it? Most people know that Lalit Modi was the power behind the Sharad Pawar throne and in fact was instrumental in ousting Jagmohan Dalmiya for the BCCI presidentship. The IPL was architected by Modi when Pawar was at the helm of the BCCI.
In Delhi’s pre poll hurly burly, all kinds of whispers circulate in its suspended particulate matter laden air. That Modi and IPL could be under the cosh for Pawar’s constant sniping is a factor that many are not willing to discount. It also makes sense to look at pre poll arithmetic. The United Progressive Alliance came into existence five years ago after much drama and anxiety. Pawar and his NCP was for most part opposed to Sonia Gandhi and her Italian origin. That he ultimately came around and joined the government as a key constituent happened only after intense bargaining whereby he got the agriculture portfolio while Praful Patel got the prestigious civil aviation portfolio as minister of state with independent charge. Five years later, there have been innumerable attempts at posturing including dalliance with Shiv Sena alluding to the same ‘Maharastrian for PM’ theme. Somewhere my sense is that the NCP-Congress seat sharing alliance in Maharashtra also played its part in this IPL rejig drama. At a subterranean level, even as the confabulations were on between the two sides, every bit of posturing by Pawar was being factored into the IPL equation. I am saying this because of the dissonance that emerged between the first home ministry go ahead and the sudden pulling of the plug the second time round. Something ‘political’ happened to lead to this pain. Political posturing, what else? Modi’s central security was given the heave ho by MHA.
Maharashtra was always an important state in national politics, but more so after the creation of Jharkand. Significantly, Maharashtra is now the second most populous state and returns the largest number of MPs to Parliament after Uttar Pradesh’s 80. Maharashtra now returns 48 while Bihar only returns 40. From a Congress ruled state for long years, Maharashtra now has a fragmented polity like most other Indian states where regional aspirations give vent to new political forces and formations. Maharashtra now has the Congress, Pawar’s NCP, the BJP and its natural ally Shiv Sena and the floater in the pack, Raj Thackeray’s MNS. There is also the smaller but powerful in odd pockets RPI. And within the Congress, there is the powerful Konkan belt chieftain Narayan Rane (a former Shiv Sainik). His aspirations too need to be accommodated in this equation. In the last state elections, NCP won more seats than the Congress. In the aftermath of the recent 26/11 Mumbai attacks this jockeying for power between alliance partners Congress and NCP was once again thrown into stark relief. Earlier, Pawar had pronounced that he would not be contesting the Lok Sabha elections and that his daughter Supriya Sule would fight from the family bastion Baramati. Now Pawar is contesting the election from Madha in western Maharashtra.
The shadow of this political wrangling is obviously impacting the staging of the IPL. The Congress is clearly putting the bristling ambition of Pawar on leash by putting pressure on the IPL. But there is another facet to this IPL imbroglio. Somewhere the Congress and its home minister P Chidambaram are upset over IPL’s unilateral stance of going ahead and announcing an itinerary. The attack in Lahore on Sri Lankan cricketers gave it the necessary handle. Somewhere, I heard Chidambaram say that why didn’t IPL organisers discuss the scheduling with ministry of home affairs officials? To be fair, the IPL team has failed in this endeavour. It could have easily sounded out Madhukar Gupta, Union home secretary about its schedule before going ahead with a public pronouncement.
Then there is the role of media. In this mix, media and electronic media in the main has played a deadly and dangerous role. The electronic media thrives on gossip, rumour and ill informed insight. Some of their breaking news alerts pertaining to the IPL have been shocking to say the least. Take a gander at some of them – IPL to be held in UAE and UK, IB says don’t hold matches, RAW chief attends IPL meeting, Mukesh Ambani meets P Chidambaram on IPL (don’t know which ones of these are true) et al. Some of these are just plain and simply laughable. I spoke to some friends in the intelligence community and they have told me that some of these women reporting for telly channels were reprimanded severely for spreading canards. Which brings me to the question of channel regulation on reporting. Is there any sort of system of checks and balances for wrongful reporting? Reporting which is bereft of truth and factoids. Anybody remember – self regulation? This unbelievable hurry to beat rivals is probably the single most damaging thing for the credibility of telly land. And nothing is being done about it.
But I am digressing. Say if there is a genuine problem over security, then why doesn’t the IPL Governing Council reassess the ground reality and come out with a please all truncated schedule. If some of the centres have genuine difficulties, the best way forward would be to stage the bulk of the matches in safe, secure and sanitised centres and a few in other centres. It is clear that the home and away system of games will be a problem. When Sachin Tnedulkar was declared run out against Pakistan in Kolkata, the crowds turned unruly and bellicose. The next day saw no specatators being allowed in as it was policed by thousands of security men. When the same Kolkata crowds turned belligerent during the appalling Indian display in the 1996 World Cup semi final, crowds were lathicharged and a security blanket thrown around the ground.
The tournament has to take place, but in a somewhat diluted form. It is important for India to go through with the IPL as it sends a message to the world at large that India is safe and secure. After all, we are not a banana republic. Yes, the organisers and the franchise owners will take a massive financial hit if the schedule is tweaked and the format changed. Gate receipts, on ground sponsorship deals and what have you will go haywire. But IPL is now a blue riband event and its prestige is paramount. If the IPL 2.0 is not held, then its entire business model goes for a toss.
Finally let me touch upon the security spectre. Somewhere I understand the government’s predicament. If God forbid something untoward happens while the matches are on, all hell will break loose. No government wants a terror overhang slapbang in the middle of elections. The bandobust has to be crackerjack, particularly in the light of the heightened security environment across the border. It is a classic catch 22. Sadly, for the IPL, it is also like a comedy of errors during a run out – yes, no, sorry, and hopefully not goodbye!
