Cricket, cinema bind India: Lord Megnath Desai

Cricket and cinema — which find the maximum fans in India — have evolved in the last 20 years from mere entertainment activities to binding forces in the country, well-known economist Lord Meghnad Desai said.

“We should be grateful to cinema and cricket for they are giving a new face to India,” Desai said in his address at the fourth International Conference on Federalism in New Delhi.

“Indian cinema and cricket have made a major contribution to the economy. They bind India,” he added.

Desai recalled that ‘in last 20 years cricket has become pride and joy of India. But when I was young, it was a game of humiliation’.

Speaking on the importance of the common man in a democracy, Desai said, “people can change democracy and people can make the government change.”