Can anyone imagine reading a headline “Indian Air Force has been disbanded because its former Chief S.P. Tyagi has been involved in fixing VVIP Chopper deal with Finmeccanica?”
Or another “Indian Railways stops all trains plying to-from Punjab because its former Minister P.K. Bansal is accused of corruption in selecting Railway Board members?”
How absurd do these sound. Just because the former Air Chief fixed the VVIP chopper deal in favour of AugustaWestland-Finmeccanica, no one calls for disbanding the Indian Air Force or accuse it of corruption. Certainly there is no Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India asking for a ban, a disbar or making the Army in charge of the Air Force.
In the same vein there is no PIL or even an outcry that the Indian Railways should be broken up or trains to and from Punjab - the home state of the tainted Minister P.K. Bansal - to be stopped from plying. There isn’t even the sensible suggestion for the Indian Railways to be incorporated into a regular company, instead of being a Government run department. For sure, the Supreme Court will throw out any PIL asking for a ban or stoppage of trains from-to Punjab.
So why is there such a huge outcry for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to be barred from playing in the Finals of the IPL 6? Just because its ‘honorary’ team chief or mentor or CEO or whatever position Gurunath Meiyappan held in CSK, the team cannot be held accountable for his actions. And Gurunath Meiyappan certainly has acted in a stupid manner, to believe the reports.
Whether Gurunath Meiyappan did actually fix matches in the IPL 6 or not is immaterial. The mere fact (once proven) that he indulged in betting, when such an act is illegal in India, is enough to put him behind bars.
People in such positions, should not merely be honest and morally upright, but also seen (believed) to be so - like Caesar's Wife. It is so sad that a scion of two famous, and respected business families, nay business houses - the AVM group and the India Cements group - displayed such poor judgement.
It is a tragedy that the incident might well cut short the stint of his father-in-law, N. Srinivasan as BCCI Chief and nip in the bud his (rumoured) ambitions of making it to the top seat at ICC. For the crimes of his son-in-law, N. Srinivasan might well pay a hefty price. The tragedy is that N. Srinivasan’s love for the game of cricket is well known. One could say that Cricket is a passion with him.
Of course the team management / owners of CSK could have handled the Gurunath Meiyappan disassociation in a more upright and smarter manner than the ham handed attempts to ‘wipe’ the records.
Wouldn’t it have been better if they had admitted that Gurunath Meiyappan had been acting as ‘honorary’ Team Chief of CSK, and he is being terminated from that capacity due to accusations of betting (and match fixing)? What I mean is make the betting/fixing accusation an act of an individual, instead of the franchise’s.
To me that sounds more forthcoming, honest and standing up like a Champion, instead of what they did - trying to sweep everything under the carpet.
:-(
Whatever, I will surely stand up and support CSK during tomorrow’s finals at Eden Gardens. Will you?
(image courtesy DNA India)
Or another “Indian Railways stops all trains plying to-from Punjab because its former Minister P.K. Bansal is accused of corruption in selecting Railway Board members?”
How absurd do these sound. Just because the former Air Chief fixed the VVIP chopper deal in favour of AugustaWestland-Finmeccanica, no one calls for disbanding the Indian Air Force or accuse it of corruption. Certainly there is no Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court of India asking for a ban, a disbar or making the Army in charge of the Air Force.
In the same vein there is no PIL or even an outcry that the Indian Railways should be broken up or trains to and from Punjab - the home state of the tainted Minister P.K. Bansal - to be stopped from plying. There isn’t even the sensible suggestion for the Indian Railways to be incorporated into a regular company, instead of being a Government run department. For sure, the Supreme Court will throw out any PIL asking for a ban or stoppage of trains from-to Punjab.
So why is there such a huge outcry for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to be barred from playing in the Finals of the IPL 6? Just because its ‘honorary’ team chief or mentor or CEO or whatever position Gurunath Meiyappan held in CSK, the team cannot be held accountable for his actions. And Gurunath Meiyappan certainly has acted in a stupid manner, to believe the reports.
Whether Gurunath Meiyappan did actually fix matches in the IPL 6 or not is immaterial. The mere fact (once proven) that he indulged in betting, when such an act is illegal in India, is enough to put him behind bars.
People in such positions, should not merely be honest and morally upright, but also seen (believed) to be so - like Caesar's Wife. It is so sad that a scion of two famous, and respected business families, nay business houses - the AVM group and the India Cements group - displayed such poor judgement.
It is a tragedy that the incident might well cut short the stint of his father-in-law, N. Srinivasan as BCCI Chief and nip in the bud his (rumoured) ambitions of making it to the top seat at ICC. For the crimes of his son-in-law, N. Srinivasan might well pay a hefty price. The tragedy is that N. Srinivasan’s love for the game of cricket is well known. One could say that Cricket is a passion with him.
Of course the team management / owners of CSK could have handled the Gurunath Meiyappan disassociation in a more upright and smarter manner than the ham handed attempts to ‘wipe’ the records.
Wouldn’t it have been better if they had admitted that Gurunath Meiyappan had been acting as ‘honorary’ Team Chief of CSK, and he is being terminated from that capacity due to accusations of betting (and match fixing)? What I mean is make the betting/fixing accusation an act of an individual, instead of the franchise’s.
To me that sounds more forthcoming, honest and standing up like a Champion, instead of what they did - trying to sweep everything under the carpet.
:-(
Whatever, I will surely stand up and support CSK during tomorrow’s finals at Eden Gardens. Will you?
(image courtesy DNA India)
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