Then came Shashi Tharoor,former UN employee,diplomat and eminent writer. He contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on Congress Party ticket from Kerala and won. He was appointed as MoS(Minister of State),External Affairs by the Prime Minister.
It all began when the IPL decided to sell the Kochi franchise. It was purchased by Rendezvous Sports World(which is a consortium of leading companies) for $333 million. Later,Modi on his twitter account revealed the names of the promoters of the Kochi team. He also revealed that a Union Minister had unethically intervened in the auction process.
Tharoor,then defended himself by accusing Modi of tarnishing his image. Modi hit back by stating that one of the Kochi promoters Sunanda Pushkar, who owned $70 million worth of sweat equity, was in fact a proxy for Tharoor.
The IPL had been in controversies since day 1- match fixing allegations,manhandling of cheerleaders,Pakistan players auction etc. But this scandal shook Modi,BCCI and the Union Government.
The question we must ask here is: WHO GAINED?
Lalit Modi was sacked by the BCCI as IPL Chairman,despite the strong support of the franchise owners. The man,who took the world by surprise 3 years ago,had been disgraced. The IPL is considered to be the apple of Modi's eye. He singlehandedly turned the project into a billion dollar enterprise. Once the most powerful man in Indian cricket,Modi has now filed a lawsuit against the BCCI. But those who idolized Lalit Modi, now doubt his methods.
Shashi Tharoor, former Under-Secretary of the UN,famous writer and youth icon had to resign as MoS following widespread protests. Tharoor has been quite unpopular ever since he won the Lok Sabha seat. Earlier,he termed Air India's "Economy Class" as "CATTLE CLASS". He also criticized the foreign policy of Pandit Nehru, much to the dislike of his party members.He also criticized the new visa policy introduced by the government. Hence, Tharoor is no winner here.
Sunanda Pushkar had to come out of hiding and decline the $70 million sweat equity. She resigned from the Rendezvous consortium and had to clarify that Tharoor was just a friend rather than boyfriend.
The BCCI sacked its "Don King". BCCI had to face a lot of humiliation and criticism for not regulating the IPL properly. It now has to deal with a suit filed by Modi.(and 1000+ pages of Modi's statements) Clearly, the BCCI lost its lucky DUCK. Subsequent Investigations have shown that many BCCI officials are actually stakeholders in many teams,which is against the rules and regulations of the IPL.
The Union government became a laughing stock. Following Tharoor's resignation,two other minitsers- Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel-were accused of misusing their power in favour of the IPL. The opposition openly panned the government. Many MPs wanted the IPL to be nationalized.
The players too suffered a lot. Rather than focusing on their on field performance, they concentrated on their OFF-SCREEN persona: The Late night parties, the fashion shows, their hairstyles, their clothes and of course, advertisements. Their health along with their performance deteriorated. Yuvraj Singh, once respected as one of the batsmen in the world, was dropped from the national squad due to his poor form. The players were panned even more after their humiliating first round exit from the T20 World Cup.
The franchise owners too, are biting their nails, thanks to the investigations of the income tax departments. The promoters of Kolkata Knight Riders were asked to submit proper vouchers and account balances, after the I-T department found many important documents to be missing. The Rajasthan Royals franchise was asked to submit a list of its stakeholders. So, the franchise owners too had something, if not everything, to lose.
But the spectators and lovers of the game- which is no less than a RELIGION in our country- had a lot to lose. Many of them felt cheated and betrayed. The malpractices of the IPL shook them. Many blame Modi and the BCCI for infiltrating the beautiful game with dirty politics and money and glamour. Even the government was not spared by the people.
So, who gained from this great IPL fiasco? It wasn't the brain behind it all- Lalit Modi. It wasn't the once respected diplomat Tharoor. It wasn't the richest sports body in the world- the BCCI. The Union Government had no clear answer to the staunch corruption allegations by the opposition. Many players were dropped from the national squad and were panned for their improper behaviour. The promoters have a lot to answer the I-T department.
"No one gained from the great IPL tamasha"- this statement is not fully true.
Amidst all this, one silent "player" gained quite a lot. It all started with a social networking site. It ended with the fall of once respected people. This "player" is a website called TWITTER. As people were being questioned,sacked,panned and investigated, Modi,the franchise owners, the players and the spectators all expressed their views and opinions through this micro-blogging site.
Score: TECHNOLOGY-1, MAN-0
Score: TECHNOLOGY-1, MAN-0
No comments:
Post a Comment