Of CWG and Spot Fixing

It is difficult, almost impossible to mind just your own business. So when Pakistani players were charged with spot fixing, everyone in the world started to voice their experiences and opinions. The keepers of good conscience, the Aussies that is, started to speak at length about how they were approached and how they declined. The Pakistani board sounded proactive then dismissive and then attacking, yes they now think that all of it is India’s doing! There is nothing wrong with having an opinion. We all have one.

Come to think of it. What was your first reaction when Md Asif, Salman Butt and Md Aamer were charged with spot fixing? Didn’t you want them out of the Pakistan team till the investigations were completed? Had they been allowed to play, would you have accorded any credibility to the matches they went ahead and played? Wouldn’t you have termed the Pakistan board as colluding and corrupt had they allowed the tainted players to continue? What is your general opinion of the board considering their lackadaisical attitude in dealing with fixing?

Now let us compare the fixing scandal to the lootfest at CWG. Kalmadi and his team are in a somewhat similar position as that of the tainted Pakistan players who are ‘alleged’ to have brought disrepute to the Pakistan team and sports as a whole. When I ask the above questions with reference to the CWG, I begin to question why I should support the Delhi 2010 CWG Games. With tainted people at the helm and a Government that showed no intent in clearing the muck but only in passing it under the carpet, I wonder if the games have any credibility left. Through appeals appearing in media, people are being asked to support the games and not campaign negatively about it. It is being linked to national pride and what not. Why should I do support it when I can easily sight the incompetency, rampant corruption, false claims and cheating on the part of the people asking me to support it?

Agreed that the failed games will dent India’s image but supporting them after widespread corruption has been reported through credible sources will dent the nation’s psyche. We may boast of a clean Prime Minister but what use does he serve if he cannot bring the corrupt to task? The Government’s logic of letting Kalmadi continue until the games is flawed. With accusations flowing thick and fast, this guy is seen spending more time in the offices of news channels and giving interviews rather than looking at the daily progress of the games. The purpose of him being at the helm despite the maligned image is defeated again!

Till sometime ago I hoped that there was a semblance of a chance that things could be turned around but all seems lost with the way corruption has been handled and swept under the carpet to paint a rosy picture to the world outside. Till about sixty years back we were slaves to tyrants, by offering our tacit support now will make us slaves to the corrupt and incompetent.

Let us take the comparison of CWG 2010 to the latest spot fixing a step further. Pakistan Cricket board has initiated action against the tainted players. Hopefully the Government of India too will do the same at an ‘opportune’ moment. In due course, going by the past records of Pakistan Cricket, all the banned players, even if found guilty of some malpractice, will be brought back from exile. The same Md. Asif will play again for them until a new allegation comes knocking at their doors. There will be some firefighting and then the ‘dousing the fire’ exercise. Like an ostrich that immerses itself under the sand seeing danger, Pakistan will choose not to accept facts (remember they need a dossier for everything!) and claim moral uprightness. Will we tread the same path when dealing with the muck on our face? In all probability we will!