Pitching it right

Sport, even as it furthers a strong spirit of nationalism, has always brought nations together and sporting encounters between India and Pak...

Sport, even as it furthers a strong spirit of nationalism, has always brought nations together and sporting encounters between India and Pakistan are no exception to this phenomenon. So it8217;s unfortunate that the cricket field has become something of a battlefield between these two nations, with politicians on both sides of the border keen to disrupt even such benign attempts to bring the two nations together. It8217;s as if they sense the strength of cricket to bridge the divides that they have so assiduously cultivated over the years.

To this day, Mumbai8217;s proud record of being the First City of cricket in the country is marred in the popular mind by the attempts of Shiv Sena activists to destroy the Wankhede Stadium pitch in 1989 by pouring tar and oil on it, just in order to disrupt an Indo-Pak match. Never to be outdone, hotheads in Karachi and Lahore have also waved black flags and staged angry demonstrations over visits of the Indian team.

Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray statement that he will not allowPakistani cricketers to play on Indian soil is an expression of this divisive legacy. Therefore Prime Minister Vajpayee8217;s skillful despatch for a six of this Thackeray bouncer is in order. Speaking at an election rally in Jaipur on Saturday, Vajpayee stated clearly that if the Pakistan cricket team decided to come to India, no individual or organisation would be permitted to create hurdles in its path. Perhaps it was the compulsions of an election campaign that caused Vajpayee to speak in such unequivocal tones, but they are nevertheless the tones required of a Prime Minister.

After all, if the Union government cannot provide a guarantee of this kind and becomes hostage to the whims of regional satraps, albeit those friendly to it, it might as well not be in power. Too many people have of late been allowed to flog their own agendas with impunity and the BJP-led government at the Centre has been made to pay the price for their hate projects.

Thackeray, on his part, must realise that boycotts of the kind heenvisages have become increasingly redundant, even quixotic, in the age of television and cyberspace. The game will go on, no matter how it irks him. That is the logic of history. Can he, for instance, ensure that India does not play Pakistan in Sharjah or Montreal or Kuala Lumpur? Even his political followers would surely have watched the matches played in these cities with interest.

By kicking up some dust in Mumbai, he is in danger of queering his own political pitch. This does not mean that the issues he has raised are not relevant. Each one of them whether they are attacks on Hindus in Jamp;K, the fact that Pakistan-trained personnel are infiltrating the country, the increasing deployment of RDX by terrorists is extremely serious and deserves the full and total attention of the government. But surely even Thackeray realises that fulminating against Indo-Pak cricket cannot solve these problems.