Shiban Khaibri
The Royal cricket extravaganza by IPL is very much back with its 6th season which started from 3rd instant and shall conclude on May 26, 2013 in India. For the grand cricket show, auction took place to buy players, prices were quoted, the highest offers did go under the hammer and as per reports, 37 players were “bought” for a total of Rs.540 crores. Who says India is not rich, other things remaining the same? How much shall be made or earned out of it, can be any body’s guess. Cricket fans must have watched and kept a track of which player was “sold” for which team and for how much amount. You have no option, like it or lump it, IPL is again there with a created buzz, having with it, three C’s – Cash, Cricket and controversies, thanks to its creator, Lalit Modi who conceived the idea and gave it a practical shape in 2008. It is another thing that Modi got so much entangled in its high profile activities that he had to leave India for London in 2010 and is staying there ever since.
Since we are watching much of cricket being played in our country and now almost every so called cricket fan must know its “silly point” too. At the outset, one of the major controversies arose in respect of whether IPL cricket, T-20 matches should be played in Maharashtra, looking to the unprecedented drought, the state is facing, the worst in 40 years. The controversy sprang from the callous wastage of thousands of liters of water daily just to “build” and maintain the cricket pitches in Mumbai and Pune. The state is struggling to provide drinking water to thousands of people especially in the rural and semi urban areas. Maharashtra known for its major contribution in producing sugar, pulses, cotton and soybean, is reeling under the water crises , the fields are horribly parched as in the Monsoon season of June to September 2012, very scant or no rainfalls were recorded. Economic contribution of the state can be gauged from the fact that the state is accounting for more than a tenth of India’s GDP. In Jalna District, people say that their taps have not “seen” water for more than five years. The other worst hit Districts are Sholapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Pune, Satara, Bead, Nasik, Budhana, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Dhule and so on. Union Minister Sharad Pawar himself hailing from Maharashtra says,” I have never seen such a serious situation”. He, however, had a word of “advice” for the opposition parties,” They should not politicize the grim situation in the state and instead should work hand in hand with the state government to fight the problem.”
IPL Chief and Congress leader Rajiv Shukla has taken a “serious note” of the charges of the opposition about the wastage (or of an avoidable misuse of water) by saying that “Why do these leaders not stop watering their lawns in Delhi and else where, the opposition parties do not want any “good work” to be done in the country, dubbing the opposition to playing of matches in the state as a mere publicity stunt….” But how is playing IPL matches any good work by any standard, especially looking to the sheer wastage or injudicious use of water in Maharashtra? This water could have been diverted to at least quench the thirst of the people. Is it not a reflection on the pseudo concern shown for the Aam Aadmi by such leaders? Should this be the attitude of such leaders towards the suffering millions at least when we know nearly more than 60,000 liters of water is required to “prepare” the pitches for a single T 20 match? A single venue guzzled about 36 lakh liters of precious water during the tournament. It may be recalled that Mumbai and Pune have to host 16 matches in total. Noted cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has thrown a bouncer by saying that,”Why target IPL and not water wastage otherwise in Maharashtra”? The enormity of the crises may be judged from the circular issued by the Maharashtra Police asking its personnel in drought hit districts to be on alert as “water wars” could break out and create a law and order situation. Heavens would have not fallen if these two venues were changed, there being no dearth of cricket venues in the country. These could have been played in our state instead. Why to ignore the Jammu and Kashmir state for this “good work”?
IPL, otherwise known for its glamour quotient, promotion by the Nouveau rich, celebrities, corporate world, politicians and the like is dogged by myriads of controversies. Why were top Sri Lankan players withdrawn from the Chennai matches after Tamil Nadu CM refused to host them due to Sri Lankan Tamil issue? Why did surprisingly cricket authorities readily comply thus affirming that they believed in mixing sports with politics. This reflected the trend in this cash rich high Royal League. Last year, in May we saw a leading Indian news Channel airing a sting operation which accused as many as 5 players in sport fixing who, belonging to Deccan Charges, Pune Warriors, Kings 11 Punjab etc; were later suspended. Then, there are allegations of franchises paying black money. Those who were part of the game were again caught on tape about paying of black money and that also in millions. How it can be allowed? The other sordid part of the story is that Mumbai Cricket Association has confirmed that this year too , the 5 year ban on Kolkota Knight Riders’ co – owner actor Shah Rukh Khan shall continue. Khan had allegedly manhandled security personnel and hurled abuses at them. Also the “slapgate” incident involving fast bowler Sree Santh and spinner cum batsman Harbajan Singh, both of Punjab Kings11, is fresh in the minds of those who see some amount of arrogance and self ego making inroads in some of the persons associated with this top cricket gamble. Harbajan had to face suspension for 11 matches last year as Sreesanth was seen sobbing in the field itself. The year 2011 saw how a Union Minister had to lose his cabinet position due to getting mired in controversies vis-à-vis the IPL. He , however, made a come back only last year. The phenomenon of dinning and celebrating parties where besides some cricketers, celebrities, and others also gets bogged in over indulgence in revelry; the details are not needed to be given. A South African Cheerleader Gabriela described Cheer girls in harsher words……… and some of the cricketers as “naughty”. Needless to add , gestures of Cheerleaders have become “orthodox” in covering the “Long on(s)” of the stadium and many of the fans must be visiting the venues for more of the Cheer “swings” than for the “swinging” of the ball.
The opening ceremony of the current session took place on 2nd of this month in Kolkota, otherwise known for its vast spectrum of football lovers. It had a battery of cine artists, singers, dancers, and above all, American rapper Pitbull who “enthralled” the audience at Salt Lake Stadium which is known to be the main football stadium of Kolkota. The dose of entertainment had its thrust modern proficient taste in “Sheela Ki Jawani”, Zara Zara touch me”, Zara Zara kiss me”, Chammak Chaloo” etc which reportedly warmed up thousands to dance to their tunes. Alas, when all this was going there , Kolkota saw the high handedness of Police in roughing up a 22 year young Sudipto Gupta who along with hundreds of students was peacefully protesting for allowing students’ union elections to be conducted. He lost his life in Police custody. While he breathed his last in a city hospital immediately after he was brought there profusely bleeding, the CM Mamata Bannerjee was enjoying the “important” IPL opening ceremony along with many politicians of the country. The following day, ie; on April 3, there were scores of processions, protests and demonstrations against the killing of the youth and maltreating of innocent students making people realize that caring for an Aaam Aadmi remained confined to candle stick democracy. This has got confirmed by Rahul Gandhi’s speech on April 4 that “If you think there is a guy ( Rahul Gandhi) who will come on a horse and set every thing right, this is not going to happen ; if you expect the Prime Minister(Manmohan Singh) to solve all the problems, you are going to keep expecting…” . The question is hypersensitive ie; who shall ,therefore, solve India’s problems?
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