Seasonal Magazine: Mumbai: Friday,
October 07, 2016.
"I am on
a difficult terrain” says Mr. Kapil Sibal, senior Congress leader and sworn
enemy of Mr. Thakur’s saffron political jersey , while he began his endeavor to
bail out his puissant client, the BCCI. “You are hired for difficult terrains.
Easy cases don't need you, Mr Sibal” replied Chief Justice of India, Mr. T.S
Thakur. Only a few months ago, Mr. Sibal had been golden boy Rahul Gandhi’s
attorney in the defamation suit filed against the latter by the RSS. Bob Dylan
was certainly right, “the times they are a changin’”
A newly
constituted Special Bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices AM Khanwilkar and
DY Chandrachud is presently hearing the Supreme Court-appointed former Chief
Justice of India R.M. Lodha-led committee's recommendation to oust the entire brass
of the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including its
president and BJP MP Mr. Anurag Thakur.
Even if
Justice Thakur recently lamented on the lack of judges in proportion to the
rise in cases, he certainly won’t bemoan his lack of humour, which was on full
display in a virtual takedown of Mr. Sibal. When asked if the BCCI boss has got
any special skills, Sibal replied in the affirmative that Anurag Thakur is a
cricketer. Anurag Thakur had played one Ranji cricket match and scored zero
runs before stepping into the shoes of a cricket administrator.
In an
apparent ridicule of Sibal’s observation, Justice Thakur replied, “We are all
cricketers here, Mr Sibal. I was captain of SC judges team against the Bar,”.
While Sibal continues to face social media backlash for his outlandish defence,
Anurag Thakur and his cohort made it quite clear that they wouldn’t budge even
an inch. In its concluding note, BCCI refused to give an undertaking that it
will comply with the Lodha recommendations, which will pave the way for Supreme
Court to pass an order on the same.
Earlier,
Justice Thakur was furious with the fact that state associations voted against
the Lodha reforms. He maintained that those associations should refund the
money (Rs.400 crore) and no further funds be given if they don't intend to
reform. Perhaps, Justice Thakur lost his patience when he took exception to
BCCI’s plea that state associations are not under its command. If this isn’t a
clear sin of commission, I wonder what is?
But how can
one miss the blatant hypocrisy at play here?
Lieutenant-cum-lawmaker-cum-cricket administrator-cum-law defaultor (oops, the
last designation is only in reference to his embarrasing position on the Lodha
panel recommendations that has send BCCI into a tizzy) Anurag Thakur is a
classic example of a self-proclaimed nationalist, whose close-mindedness will not
only bring peril to the nation but also rob the gentleman’s game of its appeal.
Consider the
recent exchange involving him and Javed Miandad on the surgical strikes carried
out by India on terror launchpads in PoK.
It all began
with Miandad’s distasteful remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing
him to a “rotten egg” and then went on to question his parentage. If that was
no enough, he then unleashed a scathing call for martrydom against the Indian
state. “The biggest hope and wish of Pakistani men and children is that if we
are to be martyred it should be for this (fighting India)...When we get a
chance we should do a tit for tat. They are weak. They don't have enough
men," he said flustered by the chest-thumping from across the border.
Reacting to
this, Anurag Thakur retorted that the former Pakistan captain was still in
"shock" over Pakistan's win-less record in both the battlefield and
the cricket field.
"Pakistan
is still not over the trauma inflicted by India in the wars of 1965, 1971 and
Kargil. Same with Miandad who also remains to be in shock for not being able to
beat India even once in World Cup history. If needed, India will make Pakistan
bite the dust again, whether it is in the battle field or cricket field,"
Anurag Thakur said.
Here is the
unsurprising element in the narrative: The Pakistani batting legend playing with the offensive and aggressive
style and Anurag Thakur, a right-arm
offbreak bowler who has himself played for Himachal Pradesh in one first-class
match, bowling him a few doosras. (No, both the desh-bhakts won’t face off at
the border, they’ll rather have their soldiers martyred for their rhetoric).
Javed
Miandad’s comments appear delusional at best, if not incurable. As a
responsible Parliamentarian, Anurag Thakur should have refrained from adding
fuel to the fire. He has no qualms about vociferously speaking of national
pride when it comes to waging war, but is oblivious to the obvious fact that it
is a ‘national’ team that they pick which steps onto the cricketing
battlefield. This is from where one should locate the ongoing feud between the
BCCI top brass and the Lodha panel.
Anurag Thakur
seems to be mired in the dilemma of choosing between his own self-interest over
national interest. Can anybody else sniff an “anti-national” masquerading as a
cricket administrator bestowed with the authority to nurture the next
Tendulkars and Kumbles of this cricket-crazy nation? As Samuel Johnson would
say, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel”
In an act of
desperation, the BCCI hoped to send warning bells when a veiled threat to call
off the ongoing India-New Zealand series was made. Does Mr. Thakur and his band
of merrymen really think they can play hide-and-seek for very long? At best,
with this most recent melodrama (presumably scripted by the daredevilry persona
of Markandey Katju, BCCI’s Robin Hood), Mr. Thakur has literally dug his and
the Board’s own grave.
He may get
millions of hyper-nationalist citizens to support his tirades against Pakistan
but he is certainly living in a mirage if he expects the same bunch to let him
run cricket in India the way he wants. The very idea that cricket
administration is the BCCI’s monopoly won’t have many cheerleaders. Mr. Thakur
has to act fast.
Otherwise, he
could do a nobler duty of assisting the brave jawans, who constantly live in
fear of not seeing the daylight when defending the borders of our country while
he scampers around to save his own skin from the comforts of a plush Bandra
Kurla office.
If sarcasm
could ever drive home a point, here is one for the record: Mr Thakur and his
foot soldiers can continue to serve in whatever capacity and disburse whatever
the quantum of funds they would like to their fiefdoms. But, make no mistake,
coming under the ambit of the RTI Act is a non-negotiable. If Mr. Sibal were to
counter this by stating the provisions of the RTI Act whereby a privately-run
body is exempt from public scrutiny, then the Act surely needs to be amended.
As citizens, it is upon us to do a big favor to the office-bearers of the BCCI
by tutoring them on the real stakeholders of a public good; in this case
instiling accountability to a national sport.
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