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Journalism of Courage
Last week, memories of December 13 visited Parliament in the form of a hoax. Sansad Bhavan8217;s staff and security, some of whom so valiantly sacrificed their own lives that day four years ago, once again gave exemplary account of their alertness. Now, alas, the elected representatives at whose service they excel could be all set to reduce the institution to a farce. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has approved a proposal to have the House discuss Sourav Ganguly8217;s exclusion from the last Sri Lanka Test. He is no doubt seized of the outrage that8217;s convulsing MPs. Rajya Sabha, too, will presumably open its floor to similar grandstanding, with its fiercest new entrant, Brinda Karat, already bristling at the 8220;injustice8221; parcelled out by cricket selectors. And how very convenient it will be for all of them. A colleague heads the BCCI. It will be so effortless to simply put him on trial.
Sit back, then, grab the best seats in the House, and brace yourself for a pathetic spectacle. In recent sessions, Parliament has so summarily absented itself from one of its key responsibilities8212;to usher in debates and concerns from the street8212;that this possible show of enthusiasm could be instructive. Sadly in this case, instructive about Parliament8217;s misplaced priorities and erroneous perceptions about its remit. Cricket administration is outside that remit. Cricket8217;s appeal for our politicians is easy to account for. Nothing quite matches it for emotive and populist potential. However, long arguments in court have established that the state has no legitimate role in its affairs. Parliament has not received the message. In case Chatterjee does not have a fortuitous change of mind, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar must restate it. He must refuse to speak in the House in his capacity as BCCI chief. That office is not accountable to Parliament.
There is, in addition, a coincidence that is more than a little worrying. All the strident voices piping up on Ganguly8217;s behalf happen to belong to politicians from West Bengal8212;from CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to those MPs forever in search of a cause, Basudeb Acharia and Gurudas Dasgupta. They are welcome to their parochialism. But let them leave Ganguly out of it. He is, even in the first draft of India8217;s cricket history, too special a son to be reduced to an emblem for narrow politicking.
