The Hindu : National : IPL: criticism of Centre unwarranted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 24, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

IPL: criticism of Centre unwarranted

Special Correspondent

P. Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Reacting sharply to the criticism of the Centre over security for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), calling the IPL fixture a “shrewd combination of sport and business,” and said there was no reason to add politics to it.

Addressing a press conference here, the Minister was steadfast in not making any comment on the BCCI-IPL decision to conduct the matches outside India next month as it was the organisers’s move. But he chose to react to “some unwarranted comments” that obliquely criticised the Centre.

Reacting to BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s statement that the whole country was disturbed at the IPL matches being taken outside India and that the decision sent a negative message to the world, Mr. Chidambaram said: “I know Mr. Jaitley has a penchant for exaggeration, but because he also wears the cap of president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association he seems to have gone overboard this time.”

Several leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance were of the view that the IPL schedule should be postponed until after the general elections, the Minister reminded Mr. Jaitley.

Taking on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who described the shifting of the IPL matches as a “national shame,” Mr. Chidambaram said most people in India thought that the 2002 Gujarat communal riots were a national shame.

He said the Gujarat government’s inability to prevent the horrific incidents and its ineptitude in bringing the perpetrators of the crimes to justice would be exposed when the Special Investigation Team report, filed before the Supreme Court, became public.

On BCCI president Shashank Manohar’s claim that the government’s attitude forced the organisers to move the IPL out of the country, Mr. Chidambaram said: “If he was referring to the Central government, the remark is entirely unwarranted. It is contrary to the letter of March 4, 2009, wherein N. Srinivasan, secretary, BCCI, said ‘we shall not ask for Central para-military forces to provide security for matches’.”

States’ responsibility

Mr. Chidambaram reminded the BCCI chief that State governments were ultimately responsible for maintaining law and order and providing security, and “one has to respect the judgment made by the State governments in this behalf.”

“Chief Ministers are not backroom wizards. They have to take frontline responsibility for providing security. The Central government has to respect their judgment. I may add that every State has expressed its reservations and also made it clear that full security can and will be provided after May 16, 2009.”

Maintaining that India was completely safe for cricket or any other sport, Mr. Chidambaram said the question was when the IPL matches should be played. Even the BJP-ruled Karnataka had agreed to provide security for the matches in Bangalore only after April 30, when the elections in Karnataka will be completed.

The Minister said that till Monday Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh had given in writing their comments, sought by his ministry after the IPL’s further revised schedule of March 17.

The Home Ministry, he said, had made it clear to the organisers that it would be in a position neither to spare any additional Central force to the States nor exempt any State from making available its police force for deployment by the Election Commission.

“If, after taking note of these limitations, some States have expressed their inability to provide security for the IPL matches during the 45 day period of elections, that is a judgment that all right-thinking citizens should respect,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National