Cricket, as they say is a ‘Gentleman’s game’.
British officers introduced the game to the Indians. India who was once
hailed as the pawn of world Cricket is now the biggest and also the
richest nation in the fraternity, thanks to the frenzy support and
adulation its cricketers enjoy. The Board of Cricket Control of India
(BCCI) is so powerful that it dictates terms and appointments even in
the International Council of Cricket (ICC) due to its financial
dominance in the body and can be financially be only compared with the
likes of Manchester United. It contributes as much revenue to the ICC
board as many nations put together affiliated with it.
With
glitz and glamour, the sporting body launched – Indian Premier League
(IPL) in 2007. Leading industrialists bid exorbitant amounts to buy
teams and even leading Indian celebrities became owners of teams in the
event. Over the past 6 years, the glamour and money associated has
become more lurid and at the same time more sinister. There have been
countless accusations about players indulging in boozing and partying,
which even spoiled India’s chances at the 2007 World Cup. 3 Players were
caught last year for getting allegedly involved in spot fixing. A
cheerleader had alleged South African Captain – Graeme Smith that he had
physical relations with her. To all this, the board has turned its
blind eye.
Though the Govt. has tried its
level best to bring the board under the ambit of RTI, it has only seen
failures. Part of it also because of the political clout that remains
highly involved in the board for lucrative reasons. It’s a matter of
surprise that most of the members of the BCCI are either industrialists
or are politicians and not cricketers. They merely play supporting roles
as advisory members in the committee and endorse the board such that
the fans are made to believe that it’s a sporting body. First that BCCI
receives huge tax benefits as it’s registered as a charitable sporting
society and hence receives tax exemption on many fronts. This is to such
an extent that it paid 41.91 crore against its tax liability of 413
crore in the 2009-10 financial year. Ajay Maken – the ex-sports minister
had tried his level best to bring it under the ambit of RTI but in
vain. He was later transferred from the position, partly because he was
too harsh on corruption in Commonwealth games and was too aggressive in
seeking to bring BCCI under the Tax regime of Govt. Not to forget that
influential politicians who have never ever played cricket are part of
its Core committee. The political and industrial invasion has become
even more predominant in recent times. At present Rajeev Shukla, the
Congress MP is the IPL chairman while Arun Jaithley, Narendra Modi,
Farooq Abdullah Anurag Thakur and Sharad Powar are part of the Core
Decision making committee .
The recently
exposed Spot Fixing scandal not only unveils the murkiness behind the
glitz and glamour of the sporting extravaganza but also depicts the way
the event has been used as a dumping ground of black money from across
countries. As I write this article, 3 players of the league are behind
bars, one of whom even represented India in the inaugural T20 World Cup
and are being questioned by the Crime branch of Police. A prominent
Bollywood actor has accepted that he was allegedly involved in betting
in the Sport and match fixing and that he had made close to 1 million
Rupees this year through it. While the Police smelled the stench of the
Spot fixing last year as one of the media channels caught 3 players on
camera accepting that they were indulged in match fixing started its
investigation much earlier this year before the Sporting extravaganza
started, it has till now gathered close to 100 hours of call recordings.
Chances are rife that two Bollywood stars, few more cricketers and even
the son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan of the BCCI Chief N.Srinivasan are
also involved in match fixing. Most of the match fixers are far sitting
in Middle East in the Gulf countries and dictate terms through their
small crooks in India to strike deals with the players. In order to set
them up, they use money, cars and girls as attractions. In fact it was
even said that S.Sreesanth when he was captured was with few escorts.
With every passing day we are introduced to new updates about the issue,
the latest being that the police is on a hunt for Chennai based
hotelier –Vikram Aggarwal. Pakistani Umpire – Asad Rauf who was also
linked with the Spot Fixing scandal and fled back to his native land
before the police officers could bring him under the investigation
making a mockery of the callousness of the administration.
In
a poor country plagued by a multitude of social and economic problems,
cricket is the primary avenue of entertainment, distraction, and
vicarious pleasure for millions. It’s enjoyed across the classes and is
the one sport where India can aspire to be the best in the world.
Because of the magnified role cricket plays in the national
consciousness, the rules that apply to the cricketing body have to be
different, and BCCI should not be allowed to get away on the basis of it
being a private, ‘charitable society’ especially 6 years after the
start of IPL whose valuation is in billions.
Amidst
all this chaos, the brazen stance taken by Srinivasan is not only
sinister to the core but also reflects the loss of integrity in the
working of the committee. Not only is he the owner of Chennai Super
Kings (since he is CEO, India Cements which is the franchise behind the
team) but also the father-in-law of Meiyappan, who was actively involved
in the Spot Fixing scandal with Vindoo Dara Singh. Sensing the rising
clamor of resignation, Srinivasan had incidentally asked all the other
members that he will resign only if the whole IPL committee resigns.
Plagued by their vested interests, the other members backed off their
demand. The biggest sporting body of India is rigged with corruption and
stench of corruption. It’s high time that the ICC and the
Administration takes up on itself to clean the squalor. Hopefully we get
to see more accountability in times to come and the corrupt officials
behind the bars.
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