The never-ending war of words keeps the world going. From personal relationships to more structured institutions, politics or sports, nothing is immune to the crushing weight of its non-stop barrage. It creates a welter of confusion, even though seeking clarity may be its intended purpose.
In Australia the Indian captain is at his garrulous best, hoping to hurt his opponents with words, if not with a hard, solid cricket ball. As if not to be left behind, those involved in administrative “clean up” in India, too are playing their part. Every day we find missives flying between the two administrators who have been given the responsibility of putting the feudal cricket board in order. At the helm of India’s cricket administration are a former bureaucrat and a former player, both distinguished in their own fields, which is why the Supreme Court trusted them to implement an order we all believed would be the future template for all sports administration in the country.
Nearly two years have elapsed and as Justice Lodha, the man who created that template, said recently, “there seems no light at the end of the tunnel.” This darkness, ironically, is now being spread by those very persons who had descended on the scene with searchlights in their hands. This may go down as one of the greatest betrayals in India’s sporting history if Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji, the two administrators, end up creating more confusion and chaos than was already there in the first place.
This raises a question that all those who opposed the court intervention had asked, that the judiciary is not the right place to interfere with privately run bodies, especially those running sports in the country. In hindsight, they may have been right, not because the court’s intentions were not noble or the Lodha recommendations were not appropriate. But simply because the persons chosen to do the job turned out to be as flawed as the world around us seems to be. In their misplaced focus, they probably got so trapped in this power game that they started running the glamorous cricket world, forgetting their original mandate. It was not to control the administration but to oversee the implementation of court orders.
Be it the controversy surrounding Anil Kumble’s exit, the handling of charges of sexual misconduct against CEO Rahul Johri or the most recent mud-slinging in women’s cricket and now the appointment of the team’s coach, the stink is becoming unbearable. When people with brooms in their hands leave more dirt behind than they are supposed to clean, it is time to start worrying.
Historian Ramachandra Guha, one of the four appointed by the court to oversee the implementation of these administrative reforms had probably realised very quickly that the rot out there is too deep and the exercise itself is futile. He had quit with the warning that the administrators were getting involved in day to day running of the board and not focusing on the actual job given to them.
Guha did the wise thing, rejecting power trappings the moment he realised the harm it could cause. Its consequences are now threatening the very reforms which many of us still believe should be implemented for the good of the game. Unfortunately, Rai and Edulji are now locked in a war of words that does no credit to them and raises serious doubts about their own intentions or capabilities.
Will the Supreme Court, which has given too much leverage to the Indian cricket board, finally swing into action, not rely on words and rescue its own order from getting mocked? It is better to have an organised, well-structured body led by vested interests than to support clueless, bumbling, ad-hoc decision making that can only lead to utter chaos and confusion.