End their Fiefdoms

HAIL THE SPORTS CODE; TO CLEANSE INDIAN SPORTS ASSOCIATIONS

The sports ministry’s decision to de recognize and suspend the archery and boxing associations, in the wake of irregularities reported and observed in their election process and not abiding by the sports code enunciated by the government; is a welcome step taken to cleanse the political muck and imperiousness obtaining in the sports federations, including its apex body the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). This could not have happened at a better time than this, when the IOC too has tightened the screws on the IOA and meted out a similar treatment to it, by de affiliating it from its Committee. The loot, rape and plunder of established societal and institutional values, which sustain efficiency and effectiveness in organizations nurtured under the umbrella of good governance or else business practices in a country, has brought the career politician to a new low in public perception and has hit rock bottom with the spate of scams, which have surfaced in recent times. Whichever aspect of public life has been dabbled with by the politicians has made it to rot and smeared it with venality, sooner than later. And sports are no different. When the emerging youth congress leader of Pune and Maharashtra, Suresh Kalmadi, who blossomed under the political patronage of Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar, had settled down in state and national politics, saw a window of opportunity emerge for him in the Amateur Athletics Association, he grabbed it by the forelock. It provided an excellent chance to him, to extend and extrapolate his political constituency. And the rest as they say is history. Suresh Kalmadi had brought along with him all the ills and negatives of politics into the management and administration of sports associations. The freeloaders who till now were on the fringes of these associations and were sitting on the fence, saw the ingress of politicians into the sports associations as a God sent chance to make hay while the sun shines and accordingly aligned themselves and jumped into the bandwagon of these politicians who had taken the reins of leadership in these associations. The politicians provided the much required interface with the sports ministry and the government, to eke out funds for development and promotion of sports and sportspersons; in a country which still considered sports a low priority activity at the national level. Funds were provided few and far between, under the alibi of huge public investments made in social welfare, poverty alleviation and development programmes. With the financial resource crunch which obtained in most sports associations, other than cricket which is not part of the IOA, the politicians provided the required leverage to get funds from the government and sports benefited. The Asian Games held at Delhi in 1982 became the inflexion point for sports in India. The Sports Authority of India was then carved out as the field arm of the Sports Ministry, to support and promote the growth of high performance sports in the country and accordingly the financial allocation for sports in the annual budget too got a comparative hike. The effort of the government and the sports associations worked in tandem, to finally throw up an individual Olympic Silver in the Athens Games 2004, which Chilly Rathore won for the country in shooting, Double Trap. This was largely attributable to the vision of the Army, which had launched itself into its ‘Mission Olympics’, with the aim of winning medals in selected  individual sports disciplines. Col Chilly Rathore was then a product of this effort.  

With sports competitions and championships as a rallying point for projecting national pride and youth power, most countries got rightfully sucked into it and international sports events became more grand and visible. Television had a huge hand in popularising sports and monies started flowing into the coffers of organizers, who used the medium for generating profits through television rights sold to media houses and partners. The sports industry had made its presence in a big way and technology brought in a fresh paradigm to make sports more interesting, competitive and viewer friendly. This was the time when Indian politicians were wooed by the lesser sports administrators and managers to become a part of their outfit and also provide it with leadership. Unfortunately, when you pick up one end of the stick you also pick up the other and this is what happened to Indian sports associations too; who while benefiting from the presence of these politicians in their organizations had also provided the very same people to bring the dirt and grime of national / state politics into sports. The immediate fallout of the politicians coming into sports administrations was in dividing the house into camps, with its own retinue of followers and supporters and money to influence and win elections with. The elections to become office bearers assumed significance, as it entitled those who remained at the helm to enjoy the perks, which are a plenty. Promotion and development of the sport was coincidental and failure was attributed to the ministry, whereas a win had many fathers.

The overbearing desire of the heads of sports associations to continue and remain in office, without any accountability towards their charge and regulation by the government, is a testimony to the fact that there is something very lucrative in holding onto one’s office in these sports bodies, more as one’s fiefdom than a democratic dispensation driven by a similar process. The examples of Suresh Kalmadi, V K Malhotra, Abhay Chautala, Ajay Chautala, Jagdish Tytler, Praful Patel , Yashwant Sinha etc are there  for all to see and make one’s own assumptions about. The happenings in the elections of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF), as have been revealed in the electronic and print media, make the entire process into a mockery of the procedure as enshrined in its constitution. We hope and pray that, for the good of Indian sport, the minister of sports does not yield to any political pressure and continue with the ministry’s stand to de recognize all such sports associations as will not abide by and adhere with the sports code.

Brigadier (retd) S D Dangwal

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