MAY 30: ``If I could ever reveal all that I have gone through and seen, you would see that in this hamam (communal bathing area) of Indian cricket, almost everyone is naked''Those were Manoj Prabhakar's words when he first rocked the cricketing world with the news that an attempt to bribe him with a Rs 25-lakh offer was made by a colleague. That was to facilitate India's loss in the Singer Cup match against Pakistan in 1994 at Colombo.Saturday, May 27 proved why. The film that Prabhakar shot over two arduous months criss-crossing the country as undercover `sleuth' corroborated the veiled charges he had made.The film has engaged the nation in a raging debate since: Was Prabhakar justified or not in his modus operandi? The answer is not simple. There are two very pertinent sides to the methods adopted by Prabhakar. Both have a value, albeit contradictory in nature.Firstly, the legal implications. On this count, Prabhakar seems to have transgressed the limits. But it's unthinkable that he would have been unaware of the risk factors while undertaking his solo expedition in the cricketing minefield. Surely his legal brainstrust, undercover masterminds and tehelka.com - his principal allies - in the sensational operation would have made him aware of the debris of civil and criminal suits he could be buried under, taking on the high and the mighty from a cross-section of the society.Secondly, the moral implications. Was Prabhakar guilty of transgressions on this count? That could be answered by asking the question: Is he a `murderer' (of Indian cricket) or a martyr? There can be no two ways about the fact that he staked everything - past, present and future - in his bid to expose the tentacles of underworld choking Indian cricket. The issue must be seen dispassionately and in proper perspective.Carping critics may say that Prabhakar may have attached a price tag while going about the undercover job. That may or may not be true. But even if he had - for argument sake - done it for a price tag of Rs one crore, the sum is a pittance compared to what he stood to lose.Will Prabhakar ever have anything to do with the game that he loved so much? Who in cricketing circles will have any links now of any nature with him? For that matter, who in his business will every trust him again? That should put a huge question mark over his future earnings as well. Socially, his family could face much hostility, if not complete osctracisation. Why, there could be a genuine threat to their lives from people who stand to lose in the multi-crore, cross-continental racket.One can understand the feelings of those unsuspecting people who opened the doors of their homes to allow Prabhakar as a friend or as a cricketer of repute. They have every right to feel betrayed, cheated and outraged. Especially, those who had nothing to do with Prabhakar's principal motive in proving his charge that Kapil Dev had indeed made an attempt to bribe him in 1994.But think for a moment: Would there have been any need for Prabhakar to assume the role of a James Bond if the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had nipped the problem in the bud? Was it actually not the responsibility of the BCCI, the International Cricket Council, the government and its various policing arms to do that job of finding the truth and nailing the traitors? Every dawn exposes a fresh can of worms, yet the guardian angels of cricket and society saw nothing, heard nothing and did nothing.And what about the Justice Chandrachud Commission? How was a blanket good character certificate given when there is so much muck, filth and an all-pervasive stink in cricket? In retrospect, was justice done by the enquiry?The Mahabaharata is close to every Indian heart. It's an epic that has been the inspiration for generations. Yet, even in Mahabharata there is a litany of deceit and lies. Something that even Lord Krishna took recourse to help dharma prevail over over adharma.Prabhakar would not be seen as a true cruasder. The belated operation had a personal agenda to it. In fact, had Prabhakar been in the army, he could have been tried for treason. For, concealing the identity of an enemy within one's own camp is a virtual abetment of a crime. All the same, the fact that he has shown guts and gumption against all odds in his belated expose is something that the nation would be grateful to him.The country stands shamed. Every accusing finger points at Indians: the bookies, the middlemen, the cricketers, the administrators, et al. Cronjegate now seems a distant memory.``Beheti Ganga may sab log hath do liya,'' (everybody has washed their hands in the flowing waters of the Ganges), said a cricketer. The result is that `beheti Ganga'' has become a beheti gutter!My heart weeps for Indian cricket.
