In the dog house...

It has been a long time since I updated my blog. I was contemplating different topics to write about in the blog: the telecom mess, failure of UPA II to address the price rise, naxal attack etc. But finally I decided to write about the topic which everyone could comment on. Yes, finally I am writing about cricket.

It had been quite some time since I watched cricket with interest. IPL, I thought, rekindled the interest in cricket across all sections of the society. For the past three years it has been attracting a lot of attention. But this year it has attracted a lot of negative publicity because of the heat it generated in political circles, ahead of the summer season.

When all is said and done, credit has to be given to Lalit Modi for making IPL a success. It is not a child’s play to conduct such a massive tournament, involving international players, in Indian soil with lots of domestic disruptions including the terrorist threats across the subcontinent. In the first year there was the challenge of making IPL a success by giving it a lot of publicity, conducting it in India in spite of the heat (peak summer season) and the disruptions like the bomb blast which ripped apart the pink city etc. Second year the problems were created by the Union government, as it was the election year. The tournament had to be shifted to South Africa in a very short notice. Still it was conducted successfully. The final year brought lot of negative publicity.

No doubt, when so much money is involved, most of the politicians in the country would watch like a hawk to ensure that they get their share. It’s taken for granted, that they should be getting their share, especially when they dole out so many tax sops for the tournament. This time, the infamous Shashi Taroor got involved in the bidding process, by openly supporting one of the bidders by being a mentor, which cost him the job. Modi then brought the ownership issue and then all hell broke loose. The government and BCCI woke up as if they knew anything about all this for three years. There were income tax raids on IPL franchisees, and there were rumors about the ownership and tax payment of various teams including KKR. Though there were raids by income tax department, there has been no action against any of the franchisees, as expected.

I am not sure what went wrong between Modi and Tharoor. But it’s clear that lot of money would have changed hands in the political circles. When the whole system blames one person for all the problems (especially when politicians are a part of the finger pointing exercise) you can be sure that they have identified a scapegoat. Modi has unfortunately been blamed for the entire mess, whereas everyone has a part to play in the whole affair.

At this point it looks like Modi is in the dog house. Let us see how things shape up after Modi’s response. He has submitted a response for 12000 pages. By the time BCCI reads it and takes action against Modi, I think the next IPL would be completed successfully.