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Journalism of Courage
APRIL 24: Is the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s claim of being an autonomous body over forever? It would appear so, given that it seems to have lost control over the activities of its constituents as the gush of match-fixing and other charges now show.
True, many of these charges have been floating around for the past seven to eight years at least. But with the Board having done precious little to get to the root of it, barring setting up a now discredited Chandrachud commission, the charges seem to have come home to roost.
Police inquiries have linked these match-fixings with some of the shadiest characters in the underworld, and this, if anything, has made the guilty cricketers collaborators and abettors of anti-National activities.
The last few days have thrown up enough revelations for the government to ignore the Board’s half-measures and directly step in and let loose the CBI. Simultaneously, they should bring out a white paper on the workings and activities of the Board, its administrators and players.
MANDATORY DISCLOSURES: Disclosure of assets by both players and Board members (of the last two decades) must also be made mandatory if the government is serious about getting to the bottom of match-fixing charges and the allegations leveled by former Board president IS Bindra.
Surely, the most shocking aspect of the police revelations is the involvement in match-fixing of underworld characters like Chota Shakeel, Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim, et al. If these people, who are associated with bomb blasts, terrorists activities, smuggling operations consisting of RDX, guns, improvised bombs, narcotics, etc., have links with cricketers and match-fixing, then the cricketers concerned (who surely are aware of the antecedents of the fixers) must be treated as accessories to the crimes.
SUSPECT COMMITMENT: The Board’s commitment to exposing the goings-on is suspect judging by both its past performance and in the light of Bindra’s charges. It has dragged its feet for so long that its present members have become conditioned to ostrich-like reaction.
The fact that some of the matches played under its patronage are being touted as fixed affairs by the police, officials and even some cricketers have not even got a worthwhile reaction from it. And that, if anything, is worrying.
The Board’s stupor is apparent, for even after news broke out that a UAE-based Pakistani jeweler gifted an expensive car to former skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, it has done precious little to either find out or release the details.
For instance, has the Board found out if the same Pakistani had similarly `honoured’ his fellow-countrymen Imran Khan, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram? Or, did the Board ask why the same Pakistani did not deem it fit to honour some of our greater achievers, like Sunil Gavaskar (most Test centuries) or Sachin Tendulkar (most One-Day centuries) or even Kapil Dev (World record holder for most Test wickets till last month)?
NO POLICY: Why does the Board not have a policy wherein all gifts, donations and other presentations made to cricketers, managers and Board officials are declared and promptly registered with it? Do people really gift expensive cars, exclusive designer watches and the like as a mere whim?
If so, why did the International Olympic Committee (which sees far more money than cricket ever will) recently came down hard on its members who had taken gifts, travel vouchers, hospitality, etc., from cities competing to stage the Olympics?
GOVT PROBE: Surely, if the IOC thought the dealings stank of a quid pro quo the Indian government too need to react with similar alacrity. For a start, let the Indian government launch a probe into gifts given to Indian players and officials and find out if there was a quid pro quo involved? Even gifts that are partly paid for by the player or official must not escape attention.
The ball is in the government’s court. The involvement of the underworld and its other activities has ensured that only a government-led probe can bring the guilty to book. A swift, time-bound clean-up is the need of the hour. The alternative is an emboldened underworld further spreading its tentacles and snaring every branch of the game: cricketers, selectors, umpires, Board, media, etc.,. A horrifying thought!
