Dignity in retreat

Shashi Tharoor has gotten into a quarrel with Lalit Modi over the appearance of probity,and managed to lose. This could,of course,be just tremendous entertainment; except for the fact that Tharoor is no longer a private citizen,but is a minister in Indias ministry of external affairs. This is now the Congresss problem. It is the UPAs problem. It is Indias problem. And it is no longer clear why this government should continue to underwrite one ministers gaffes,one ministers inexplicable inability to figure out what the dignity of his job entails.

In this latest brouhaha,Lalit Modi,the Indian Premier Leagues strutting commissioner,decided to tweet that Tharoors friend Sunanda Pushkar owned much of the new IPL team from Kochi,and,furthermore,what she owned was sweat equity,usually assigned to those who have put a big deal together,as a monetary reward and inducement. Naturally,this raises worrying questions about Tharoors personal involvement he has in the past announced himself to be something of a friend,philosopher and guide to the Kochi bid,a disinterested mentor,if you will,seeking only a team for Kerala. He still maintains he intends to make no money off the Kochi bid,whatever my personal relationships with any of the consortium members. There is a pattern at work here that is problematic: Shashi Tharoor continues to underestimate the level of dignity and distance that is generally expected from someone who has taken on a ministerial position. If he took the time to acclimatise to this countrys politics,however flawed,hed find that it still privileges a sense of decorum and proportion he is in breach of.

Tharoor accuses Modi of a breach of all propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the composition of the consortium. It is not at all clear why these are not issues that should be publicly raised. Are not IPL clubs equivalent to corporations? Is not the ownership of our public corporations supposed to be a matter of public record,held by the registrar of companies? Indeed,Modis detractors have seized this moment to raise questions of ownership of other teams; the air is thick with unseemly allegations. Disclosure on the ownership of all teams is necessary. Is not,in the end,the IPL underwritten by the people of India,through the governments support for its parent,the BCCI? The BCCI,too,should remember that no confidentiality clause should be permitted to cover private companies that are supported by special state dispensation. No team should be exempt from public scrutiny of its ownership.