When do politicians dominate sports administration too?...by Prabhjot Singh
Chandigarh: Sports and politics in India have had an intriguing relationship. More politicians have dominated Indian sports than sportsmen playing any influential role in Indian politics.
Politics, many feel, is a dubious game where loyalties change overnight. Vowed enemies today are friends tomorrow.
The most quotable example are the trends in Indian politics where two major political groups have been out to woo smaller or regional parties into their folds in the names of alliances – NDA or INDIA.
Whatever be the final shape of these alliances at the time of the general elections in the country this year, conflicting political ideologies will remain their weakest link in the bondages that arrived out of necessity than the actual understanding.
Politicians have mastered the game of remaining in power. It is what has made them successful even in managing affairs of the National Sports Federations (NSFs), including the parent body, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Strange as it may sound, Olympian runner PT Usha has become the first athlete to head the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). One does not have to mince words that if she has been chosen to head the prime Indian sports body, it is because of her avowed allegiance to the country’s ruling party BJP.
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Not long before her elevation as the IOA chief, she was nominated to Rajya Sabha by the BJP-led ruling NDA.
Sure enough, she is not the first Olympian to head a sports federation in the country as Adil Sumariwala, also a sprinter, has been heading the Amateur Athletic Federation of India (AAFI) and Dilip Tirkey has been leading Hockey India. Kalyan Choubey, who remained a national level football player, also holds a key position in All-India Football Federation (AIFF).
Ushas, Tirkeys and Choubeys are the recent developments in Indian sports. They got into politics because of their godfathers. Dilip Tirkey owes to Odisha CM Navin Patnaik who had earlier nominated him to Rajya Sabha also. One thing common about sports persons currently sitting in Parliament – PT Usha Harbhajan Singh – is because of courtesies of their political bosses. So have Dilip Tirkey and Sachin Tendulkar besides a few others.
These Olympians have done little or nothing to leave any impact on the country’s politics, including cleansing the sports administration that has remained mired in unsavoury controversies, including the deepening crisis in the Wrestling Federation of India. The newly elected body of the WFI can be suspended any time by the parent international body of the sport.
Earlier, football, too, went through these agonising and disturbing times with the sword of uncertainty hanging over the career of future players of the sport.
Some of the politicians who dominated Indian sports bodies include Vidya Charan Shukla, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Sharad Pawar, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, Buta Singh, Suresh Kalmadi, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, Abhay and Ajay Chautala, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, and Umrao Singh.
There may be some others also who dominated the sports scene in other parts and regions of the country.
One thing interesting about the politicians in sports has been that they would cut across their political allegiances to stay united in adverse times, a feature that is conspicuous by its absence among sports persons who dabbled into politics in the country.
January 4, 2024
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Prabhjot Singh , Senior Journalist and Sports expert
prabhjot.apple@gmail.com
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