Bowl 146;em out

As a rivetting media event, the BCCI election in Kolkata on Wednesday would have had little competition, even if the defeat of Sharad Pawar and the election of Ranbir Singh Mahendra will probably make no difference to the way Indian cricket is run and often mis-run. Pawar says he was done in by Jagmohan Dalmiya8217;s gerrymandering. Whatever the validity of that charge, it doesn8217;t answer one basic question: what was Pawar doing at the BCCI anyway? He8217;s a full-time politician, president of the NCP, Union agriculture minister, isn8217;t he too busy? On the evening Pawar was enmeshed in a silly contest in Kolkata, the Union cabinet met in Delhi. Decisions related to the sugar industry had to be postponed because the agriculture minister was absent. The civil aviation minister, an NCP man whose ministry is in the midst of a reform-related war, spent three days in Kolkata managing his boss8217;s BCCI campaign. It was absurd.

It8217;s not Pawar alone. Arun Jaitley is general secretary of India8217;s second-largest political party. Omar Abdullah is almost morally obliged to rebuilding the middle-ground Kashmiri party the National Conference was. Narhari Amin should have his hands full monitoring the Narendra Modi government. If such people have an obsessive interest in the cricket board, it can8217;t be forgiven as a private matter. As ministers and legislators, they are public servants, drawing salaries paid for by the tax-payer. There is a certain social contract they are violating. Agriculture is a special concern zone for the UPA government. Yet Pawar has not found time to set up even something as non-controversial as the promised farmers8217; commission. Is it fair to indulge yourself on the cricket field, when the real fields are waiting for you to get back to work?

As long as organised sport was a minor appendage of the state, dependent on government handouts, a role for politicians could perhaps be condoned. As an economic enterprise, Indian cricket has long crossed critical mass. Cricket Australia is a business corporation. In England, the Football Association is managed by a professional CEO, made up of clubs run by businessmen, even listed on the stock exchange. Nowhere are ministers and MPs involved. Is this too much to ask of Indian politicians?