IPL and General Elections!

IPL2 and Genereal Elections

The crossroads at which IPL satnds today, I mean the second edition of the Indian Premier League as it clashes with the general election dates in several states and some of them expecially the maharashtra and Government showing red light for a go ahead! It indeed is a sad state of affairs for the tournament!

IPL in its avtar last year was a grand success even if it was commercial in nature, we got good entertaining cricket! Now the news or should I say the latest news is that IPL 2 is on its move out of India for rasons not purely cricketing! It is all right, there could be a better evolution of the game that way, it could in future ask countries to bid for holding the games in the next few years. If India or rather Indians are to be believed it is after all an Indian Premier League involving Indian Frabchise and more than 60 percent featuring Indian players it deserves to be staged in India. Some may also cite that no other country in India may be able to provide as vast viewership as India could.

Somehow the IPL 2 has been cast at the times when India faces its general elections a once in a five year affair and the one that does require law and order to be maintained during the various phases of the elections. In these circumstances, it would hardly be possible for security to be provided to the IPL 2. yet does it not send wrong signals to the world that India could not hold its general elections and a major sporting event together and also assure of security in both the events! One must find answers to such questions rather than politicising the issue as two major parties have engaged themselves in a political war and taking opposite stands as if their win or lossoing elections may be dependendt upon the outcome of their debate in favour or against the holding of IPL 2 in the country.

May I request the politicians of this country to not mix sports with political undertones. It definitely does not auguis well for the sportsman spirit. Cricket, as MAK Pataudi had wrongly assumed to be improtant enough to be a national game is far more important than that. National games can not be changed with changing fortunes for a sport. Hockey is our national sport but cricket enjoys a higher interest rate among Indians than Hockey does. There should not be any misgivings about that. I have no reasons to believe that IPL 2 could not be held in India alongside elections. yet if they wish to hold some parts of the games in another country for sake of Internationalising the event it would be a welcome move!

What I have to suggest is that some of the major games maybe the semi-finals and finals could be moved to another country not for fears of security alone but to acclerate the popularisation of the IPL in those countries. I think the group matches could have been rediuced to one per team instead of home and away matches, that in itself would have prompted the two warring groups at some sort of a compromising situation. I find that nitehr IPL nor government is willing to come to truce.

Don't take away the IPL from the India, it may never be able to come back as more and more countries may want to have it held in their countries and with the precedence being set here itr may be difficult for th eorganisers to turn down the requests. As a matter of fact, I had written at the end of first IPL that top four teams could play in more games in other countries. I say that again, that instead of more games, some of the games could be exported to other countries but not on the pretext of security but on the subject of extending a higher popularity of the league!

If I continue to write beyond this it might rob me of being herad, I believe that repetitive statements of saying the same thing in 10 ways does add to lethargy in the minds of the listeners. I wish that majority of the tournament stays in India and imortant games are palyed in another country on a rotation basis! if England gets a chance this time, next year should be South Africa and year next to that could even be Australia!

Hopefully the matter of IPL 2 is resolved amicably and apolitically.

Abhaya India March 23/24 2009 12:25 IST

15th Lok Sabha Elections

15th Lok Sabha Elections

Oh! The next general election- the fifteenth to be precise are almost on the doors!

Are we prepared! Are we programmed in our thoughts! Have we decided what kind of government do we wish should take over to rule us! Who all should win and who shall be defeated! Whether party should get a prominence over candidate or the candidate’s qualities should supersede his allegiance with a particular party!

These and many questions concern India as one and half moth long election process is about to begin in the country during April-May 2009.

There are issues of alliances – whether alliances should be announced before or be allowed to take shape after the results are declared! Whether parties should have their prime-ministerial candidates be announced or they could wait!

More important than these questions, I feel we should ask ourselves is what kind of polling percentatge should be considered adequate. If a constituency polls below 50 percent of its valid votes does it really reflect that the elected candidate truly represents the best choice!

Should the parties be allowed to behave as they select their candidates as a matter of their choice or there should be some minimum norms that are to be adhered during the selection of a suitable candidate for each constituency.

Whether the parties should have clear manifestations of their ideas about the kind of governance that they propose to adopt if elected be made mandatory before going to polls or be declared after being elected. Can there be some way to monitor to check if they have adhered to their words by some agency.

Let this be known that if we go to polls in as large numbers as is practically possible there is a better chance of electing the right candidate. If we do not entertain our rights now we lose that much credibility in criticizing the elected government. Not that by a large turnover we would necessarily be successful in electing the best candidates for the 15th Lok Sabha. Atleast we increase our statistical probability of electing the most suitable candidate yet we have been witnessing that men and women do not exercise their franchise powers. We must try to rationally understand our responsibility in the formation of the government.

Do I assume that this time we would get motivated enough and motivate others to also execute our powers in the general election. The powers that come to us mostly after five years should not be allowed to go invain. Let us raise the polling percentage by atleast a margin of 10 to 20 percent over the last time. It is sometimes the belief of people that their votes do not really count much – that it can not have an impact on the winning or losing of a particular candidate. They probably forget that each drop of water contributes to the volume however insignificantly but still quantitatively. Some people also have this second logic that I do not find a suitable candidate whom I could vote – in fact some one had suggested that the ballot paper should have a column for none of the above! Well, I think that kind of logic can not be considered here it is for chief election commissioner and the government to make or amend such rules. Our aim or objective should be to find the most suitable candidate from those who are in the fray. If we are granted such an option we may end up with many constituencies that may return a null candidate as winner. Do we then again go to polls for those constituencies or we leave their representations vacant. A re-election is an expensive process. The motive of my article is not to support a particular party or a candidate nor is it to make amendments or corrections to the process of our elections! We have to weigh our candidates logically, rationally and free of any sentimental or emotional attachments with them. Sometimes I do feel that people could have a third point of view for not exercising their powers of voting – they may say that they do not know about their candidates enough. I partly agree with their views yet if one wants to find out it should not be that uphill a task to know about the prime candidates of a constituency.

In this fifteenth general elections let us show to the world that indeed India is one of the biggest democracies in the world as it has the largest franchise power in terms of numbers. Let us also display that we use democratic means to elect those who are going to govern us – that alone could be considered a good strength of our kind of democracy!

Abhaya Sharma, India March 15 2009 11:53 PM IST

लोकसभा चुनाव

लोकसभा चुनाव

15वीं लोकसभा के चुनावों का समय निकट है, देश के आगे एक बार फिर नई सरकार के गठन के लिये नई चुनौतियां सामने आ रही हैं, किसे चुनें किसे न चुनें, किस पार्टी को विजय दिलाई जाये किसे परास्त किया जाये । हमारा अगला प्रधानमंत्री कौन हो, किसके हाथ में देश की बागडोर हो, कौन देश को आगे ले जाने में आगे हो ।

यही नही कितने ही अन्य सवाल इस लोक सभा चुनाव से जुडे हैं । कांग्रेस को एक बार फिर अजमाया जाये या भाजपा या फिर किसी अन्य पार्टी को देश की कमान थमाई जाये । इन प्रश्नों के उचित उत्तर तो 16 मई को ही मिल पयेंगें जब चुनावी नतीजे हमारे सामने होंगे, तभी यह सुनिश्चित हो पायेगा कि भारतीय जनता का ऊंट किस करवट बैठता है ।

कुछ एक सवाल है जिन के उत्तर भी उपलब्ध है तथा उनके चुनाव से जुडे होने में कम से कम मेरे मन में संशय या संदेह की कम ही गुंजाइश है । पहला सवाल है कि क्या देश को एक विभाजित जनादेश देकर क्या हम देश के हित की बात कर सकते हैं । दूसरा प्रश्न यह उठता है कि क्या इस देश में कोई एक पार्टी है जिस पर समस्त देश को भरोसा हो सकता है । तीसरा अहम मुद्दा यह है कि क्या चुनावों से पहले पार्टी को अपने प्रधानमंत्री उम्मीदवार के दावेदार का नाम जनता को बताना आवश्यक हो या न हो ।

अभय शर्मा, भारत, 15 मार्च 2009 6.50 सायंकाल ।