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Caught between the bails and the ballots

When Big Money comes into play, the world stops being a sensible and reasonable world, writes Nirmal Shekar

The Indian Premier League is about many things. It’s about money, money, money, money, money… and then, of course, about a bit of cricket, of the frenetic kind, too.

Given that fact, this column has a suggestion to Mr. Lalit Modi, the IPL’s high-profile head honcho. He should request the Central Government of the world’s largest democracy to postpone the general elections scheduled for April-May. Well, actually he should go beyond that: he should demand it.

Hoopla vs. the hustings

After all, compared to the life-or-death issues that the IPL is concerned with, what is a little democratic exercise like a round of general elections?

Surely, queues in front of ill-equipped stadiums featuring fans smacking their lips in anticipation of a jolly good show by scantily clad cheerleaders should be a summer staple. Those cheergirls are worth every penny paid to them: they not only get the fans into the stands well ahead of the contest but also help add colour and zest and life to our newspapers’ front and back pages _ and a few in between.

Who in the world really wants to see photos of those grizzled octogenarians on the campaign trail, and more of them then being carried to the polling booths to exercise their franchise on a baking-hot summer’s day?

Why should you fret about casting your vote and getting that black inky smudge on the finger when you actually have the chance to catch the ball off a Kevin Pietersen six in the stands — and becoming an instant celebrity?

Why should governments — both at the Centre and the States — be seized by paroxysms of anxiety over the need to provide adequate security to the candidates and the citizenry during the election process, and simultaneously also to cricket’s megastars, especially to some of those terrified imports from famously risk-averse nations such as New Zealand and Australia?

Simple solution

There is a simple solution: postpone the polls, no matter what the Constitution says, no matter what the Election Commissioners may say. After all, can these blokes possibly bring in hundreds of millions to the kitty? Can they conceivably persuade Preity Zinta or Shilpa Shetty — draped in the finest their unabashedly expensive wardrobes can offer — to jive it live in front of TV cameras during the matches?

Did anyone whisper anything about priorities? By golly, who cares? After all, this is a nation where Parliament erupts in atavistic frenzy whenever the Indian cricketers lose a match in South Africa, and reverts to certain ennui as the odd member brings up an issue such as farmer suicides.

In the event, it is hardly surprising that the much-awaited second coming of the IPL should be taking up so much space in newspapers and so much airtime on the news channels.

In a rational world, it would have been an open-and-shut case, a non-issue. If the governments of the States where the IPL matches are scheduled believed they would not be able to provide adequate security to the players because of the election pressures, then the Central Government should simply tell the Board of Control for Cricket in India that it would do well to postpone, or even cancel, the event.

Lure of the lucre

But then, when Big Money comes into play, the world stops being a reasonable and sensible world and we find ourselves having to do a bit of cognitive acrobatics to make sense of it all.

Repeatedly we are told that there is far too much at stake for too many people, for the IPL Board to even so much as contemplate the idea of such a postponement or a cancellation. But who are these stakeholders, and why should elected governments stretch their security apparatus dangerously thin in order to protect their interests?

The Lahore attack on the Sri Lankan players proved that cricket could indeed be a soft target for terrorists in this part of the world. While we may want to believe that India is a lot safer than Pakistan — and there is indeed some strong basis for this belief, 26/11 notwithstanding — this is not the time to traffic in illusions.

The security cover at the match venues will have to be of a much greater scale this time than during the IPL’s inaugural season.

The setting, the climate and the equations have all changed in quick time and it would be unwise to blithely believe that some private agencies can step in and ensure security for the players as they move about, and at the match venues.

Paranoid participants

Already dozens of foreign players who have signed up for the six-week long tournament are possibly weighing the potential risks anxiously against the rewards that are available. And any reluctance on the part of the State governments to guarantee the maximum level of security would only add to their concerns.

The League might have stood market logic and sentiment on its head in these recessionary times with the outcome of its second auction last month, but the dangerous times in which we live and play sport dictate that we steer well clear of the illusion that Big Money can solve every vexing problem we face.

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