The Country's Shame---Squadron Leader(retd) Suresh Kalmadi

Subsequent to the successful conduct of the 4^th World Military Games (MWG) at Hyderabad and Mumbai from 14^th to 21^st  Oct 2007, which the Indian Armed Forces were entrusted with and the Army made responsible for, I received a letter from Mr Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman of the Organizing Committee (OC), Common Wealth Games 2010 (CWG 2010). It was about sharing my experience , expertise and ideas as the Chairman of the Games Technical Conduct Committee, MWG 2007 with the OC CWG 2010,to value add in the build up to the multi discipline sports event. Accordingly, to benefit from my knowledge and understanding, I was invited to attend a meeting under the auspices of OC CWG 2010 and make a meaningful contribution in the collective effort.

By virtue of my being entrusted, associated and involved with the administration, management and conduct of competitive sports in the Army and the Armed Forces, as a professional in my service career, I was aware and informed about the murkiness which engulfed and obtained in the National Sports Environment. In fact, while dealing with the Office Bearers of the  National Sports Federations (NSFs) on a regular basis, their lack of vision and professionalism, playing politics, marginalizing the sportsperson and corrupt practices did not elicit my regard for their official conduct and behavior. With the exception of a miniscule  NSF, most are worthy of contempt and disgust.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) which is a conglomeration of  the NSFs and the State Olympic Associations (SOAs) etc is the bedrock of the prevalent organizational attitude towards all that is wrong with Indian Sports. The NSFs and the SOAs are mirror images of the IOA and perpetrate the same functional ethos which runs common to both, apathy for and mediocrity in sports. A lamentable situation by any stretch of imagination.

Therefore, it was not surprising that given my views on the wretched conditions which engulf the promotion and development of sports and the level of people who administer and manage it in the country, that I courteously declined Mr Suresh Kalmadi’s invitation. My reply was pregnant with meaning and read as follows-:

       “I regret my inability to attend the meeting, as I do not find the present sporting environment conducive to inspire me or else have faith in the existing leadership”.

Given the arrogance and pride which had become Kalmadi’s second nature, my response to his request was probably the first of its kind from anyone leave alone a Service Officer, and hence invited his wrath upon me. The copy of my reply was sent to the Director General of Military Training (DGMT) and President Services Sports Control Board for perusal and action as deemed suitable. In Mr Kalmadi’s understanding, I had probably transgressed in replying to him in the manner I had, as he being an MP and President IOA was deserving of a more obsequiously worded reply. An appreciative letter from him could only draw a fawning response, because he has the authority to dole out any number of freebies which, most who come under his patronage bend over backwards to receive. Kalmadi had the power to make petty seekers eat from his slimy hands and remain indebted to him for the largesse. This is how he cultivated his cronies.

The DGMT who wanted to browbeat me by asking for my explanation,as the same would have to be put up to the Chief of Army Staff, summoned me and presented Mr Kalmadi’s letter. My reply to him was spontaneous and which was, “I stand by what I have written and have nothing further to say on the matter”. There were no further questions put to me on the matter by anyone, thereafter.

Not only this, in the aftermath of the Athens Olympics 2004 when Chilly Rathore of the Army had got India its first individual Silver Medal in a long and hopeless history of 100 years, I had shared with the press my article “The Joke Must End”, detailing the string of excuses which the IOA comes out with every time after a dismal performance and yet its Office Bearers continue to tenant their offices in perpetuity. It is another matter that the story did not get published owing to its controversial content. However I did compile this in my Book--- Passion for Courage, A Winners Creed and had also shared the same with  Mr Mani Shankar Aiyyar, when he was the Sports Minister. The matter regarding regulating the tenure of office of IOA/NSF/SOA office bearers was again written about by me in an Open Letter to the Sports Minister, consequent to his interview on a  TV News Channel in the wake of the failure of the Indian Hockey Team to qualify for the Beijing Olympics and his remarks in response to a question regarding the regulation of the Sports Bodies that,“I can only wait and watch”.

Suresh Kalmadi had been so emboldened by his political acumen and expedient practices to generate wealth and cronies in equal measure that, he started believing in his infallibility. The magnitude and enormity of the corruption that he indulged in and leveraged in the OC CWG 2010 is an apt testimony of that belief. He got done in by his arrogance and the system which played ball with him, till it got pushed to the wall by the plethora of exposes into a series of financial scams and corruption in high places.

Now that the long arm of the law has got to him and he will have the dubious distinction of sharing the premises of Tihar Jail with the  likes of Lalit Bhanot ( “we have different hygiene standards from them”, fame) and VK Verma, the Government, IOA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) too have distanced themselves from a potential criminal. The Sports Minister must now step in boldly and destruct the bogey of the IOA and the IOC, regarding non interference in the running of the Sports Federations including the IOA and bring these under selective regulation by a competent and capable government body.

Mr Maken, you are the Sports Minister of India and hence National Pride and Prestige cannot be held hostage to the specious argument given by the IOC, regarding government regulation being a sacrilege, which will invite disqualification for India from participation in International Sports Events under the auspices of the IOC. In this the Sports Minister must continue to be guided by the sentiment that, the principal Office Bearers of the IOA continue to parrot the nauseating bogey of absolute autonomy,which their likely to be Ousted Leader Kalmadi has mastered to perfection.

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

07895131861

It is only today that, I learned about the ongoing Court of Inquiry (COI) ordered by HQ Southern Command, Pune to investigate into and establish a series of wrongs, which were committed during the past two/three years in the Army Institute of Physical Training (AIPT) Pune. The inquiry, a consequence of a report made by an officer of the Army Physical Training Corps (APTC) to the Chief of Army Staff/General Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Command, against the previous and present Commandants as also some other officers of AIPT, Pune is in progress. The complaint, on which the convening order of the COI is premised, alleges serious and contemptuous acts of un-ethical official impropriety, indulged in by those blamed. In the recent past, some senior and middle rank officers of the APTC have cleverly manipulated the Service rules and financially milked the institutions/organizations they either headed or served in, for personal pecuniary gains. These despicable deeds of improbity, which are alleged to have been committed by this clique is not only sustained by the proverbial ‘ There is No Smoke, Without a Fire’ but is substantiated by the culpable evidence available to an open mind and a discerning eye. Having served as an Officer (Master at Arms) in the APTC for about 27 years, commanded the AIPT and been the Head of Service (HoS) of APTC, I enjoy a detailed and clear insight into the opportunities on offer to those officers, who are weak of soul and bereft of an abiding conscience. Unfortunately, these kind of people draw strength and courage to enact their misdeeds from their official position, hierarchical connections and a perverted sense of character. Much alike the berated politician and bureaucrat, who stand abashedly exposed in the public domain. It was during the last few years of my Military Service, when I was at the helm of affairs of the APTC, both at AIPT, Pune and the Military Training Directorate, Section -8, Army Headquarters, New Delhi and had the mandate, that I dutifully reached out to all officers of the APTC and implored them to practice character driven leadership, which upholds values and principles to the exclusion of all else. This, because being a minor Corps and small in size, but valueless in terms of the charter, contribution and content of its competency, any failure of its leadership will have an indelible and exaggerated effect upon the training environment and its own perception in the eyes of the General Staff. The COI, instituted on the basis of a written report, comprising a long list of financial and criminal irregularities and ethical wrongs of some officers, must be guided by the canons of verifiable evidence and justice and not become a handmaiden to official clout, which subordinates Truth. The present Chief’s recent counsel to his brother officers to report the wrong doings of their seniors, to eradicate corruption in the Army, has been well received by this officer and who knowing the truth must now endeavour to take the matter to its just conclusion. Should I say that character and the courage of his convictions has been shown by this officer, who was guided more by his conscience and sense of righteousness than falsehood and hypocrisy. Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal 15 B /2 Shubash Road Dehra Dun-248001 07895131861