The Kapil Sibal connection

Posted in cricket, IPL by

Consider this sequence of events:

  • Betting and match-fixing allegations hit IPL
  • BCCI pleads helplessness as there are no laws in place covering deliberate under-performance
  • IPL Commissioner Rajiv Shukla and BCCI honcho Arun Jaitley meet Law Minister Kapil Sibal, “demand” tough new law
  • Kapil Sibal promises new law with teeth

Here is the kicker: The Sports Ministry receives this tough new law — and finds that the IPL is kept out of its ambit.

Sibal assured that corporates, bookies, criminals as well as Indian and international players would fall under its jurisdiction.

The sports ministry was taken aback when it received the bill on Monday. Contrary to what Sibal had pledged, the law ministry has kept the scandal-ridden IPL out of its purview. Even the I-League is kept out its ambit.

The ministry dismissed the proposed law as an “eyewash”. Top officials called it a “toothless bill”.

“We’ll send our strong response by Wednesday,” a senior ministry official said. “People who have formulated the rules neither have an understanding of sports nor do they have a sound knowledge of law.”

(BTW, the person the Sports Ministry says has no knowledge of law is, wait for it, our Law Minister)

So let’s try this again: A law sparked by corruption in the IPL does not apply to the IPL.

Now ask yourself this: just how brazen can this collusion between the government and the BCCI get?

Ask yourself this, too: What is Kapil Sibal’s interest in saving the BCCI’s bacon?

In a series of tweets, Supreme Court advocate Nikhil Mehra demystifies the issue:

See how it all ties together — the various interests (with their in-built conflicts?)

You also know why, just yesterday, Kapil Sibal said the government should not “interfere in sports” (read BCCI). Of course it shouldn’t — his son is the BCCI advocate, no? How would it look at the family dinner table if the father went after the son’s client?

Here is the sports ministry official again:

“This clearly indicates that the BCCI is above law. It cannot just be a mistake on the part of those formulating the draft bill. Action on the law has been hastened in the wake of the recent spot-fixing cases. Keeping the IPL out of the bill shows their mala fide intent. It clearly suggests that the BCCI has managed to wield its influence here too,” he said.

PS: Just now, on TV, IPL Commissioner Rajiv Shukla is heard telling media persons that the committee will investigate, it will report, and the recommendations in that report will be “immediately implemented”.

What committee, and which report? Earlier today Amit Shirke, BCCI treasurer and a member of this same committee, told Times Now that the brief given to them had been “severely restricted” — in other words, the committee has been given very narrow parameters to inquire within.

All of this leaves me with just one question/thought: Just how brazen can the BCCI and those within the government who support it get? Just how long will this one body take this country on an endless ride? And just how long will it be before the fans say, en masse, that enough is enough?

15 thoughts on “The Kapil Sibal connection”

  2. Pingback: Kapil Sibal, Daler Mehndi collaborate for a song on spot-fixing | Music Phenzes

  3. Pingback: Kapil Sibal’s poems being used to torture Sreesanth and Chandila: Sources | crazy jokes

  4. How I hope the fans decide it for everyone! Why have they not done it? Oh for the record I have stopped watching other than Test Matches and that too I watch rather infrequently 😦

  5. Sir.. As a common man, I get a feeling that I am constantly wearing a piece of black cloth on my eyes.. While the ELITE seem to loot me and my country.. The LAW, Rules,etc seem to apply only the ones wearing black cloth like me.. I can’t seem to get away if I FORGET to wear the seat belt but people looting me and my country are being carefully carried towards safety.. ACCOUNTABILITY is not a value with the leaders at the helm of this country spanning various parties..

  9. Prem
    We have met earlier.
    First let me offer my deepest sympathies to you on the loss of your mother. Your posts have showed how close you were to her and it is an irreplaceable loss. But she is with the angels and has only moved from “God’s own country” to God’s “own country”. Her soul will rest in peace and time will surely heal your loss. May God be wil you and family at this time of loss.
    I have read your IPL posts with interest and 100% concurrence and have referred to it in my own comments on IPL which I have incorporated for the analytical article I have written for Cricinfo-The Cordon. This article is due for publication on Saturday. I have extracted teh IPL-related comemnts and uploaded to DropBox. Given below is the link.

  10. I suppose it would never happen bottom-up. The fans never speak with their feet (or their money) – they haven’t for any sport-with-a-mass-following or in any country.
    And the reason is that most of the stadium-goers are not serious, concerned cricket fans, and are there for the thrill. How does it matter if it is IPL or WWE? They like ‘to watch cricket’ as opposed to ‘the game of cricket’, and for them there is enough of DLF maximums and kamaal catches and jhapaak jhapaaks to watch. They cannot be blamed (of course it is ridiculous to expect that everyone loves the game as much as you and I do).
    The only way it would change is if / when the judiciary is mobilized. And the police. Simple example: Calciopoli in Italy. The supporters did not stop going to the stadiums before or after calciopoli. It was just that the judiciary was mobilized, they went to the crux of the matter, and did what had to be done.
    Which, as you rightly say, is almost impossible in this case. The nexus is way too deep, as you pointed out.

  11. As I read these conflicts of interest and how BCCI appears to have a connection everywhere, reminds me of “The Godfather”. Vito & Michael Corleone pale in comparison.

  12. >> And just how long will it be before the fans say, en masse, that enough is enough?

    Never and that is whole damned problem.

  13. In 15th Century Kabir wrote:
    Chanda Mari He Suraj Mari He
    Mari Hai Dharti Aakasa
    Chaudah Bhuvan ke Chaudhari Mari He
    In Hu ki ka Aasha
    Saadho Ye Murdon Ka gaanv

    Translated:
    The moon is dead, so is the sun,
    Dead is the entire sky,
    Rulers of all lands are dead,
    What hopes from these dead can one have?

    I think for the BCCI honchos the issue never was corruption, Us Hamaam mein sab nange hai. The main issue was the non-Srinivasan lobby, can it topple Srini using this Guru-key and get their chap in? It coudnt because it lacked the numbers!! So status Quo with some hogwash sprinkled on top of it will be served.to the people and fans.

  14. My fear is that the fans do not really care about these scandals.. They will be more than happy to turn up again for IPL 7 or 8 or whatever version is next.. After all Sachin won the IPL this year, so not everything is bad, is it?

  15. The only phrase that comes to mind is “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”… I fear it is too late… the stench has now pervaded every level… you can see how the smart ones have quickly ended their association with it… Neither Indian nor world cricket can afford an emperor, the blatant disregard and manipulation of laws/rules to accommodate profiteering were there for all to see, but as it was before, you could speak up about it at best but who could hold them accountable and take suitable action? Perhaps the real stakeholders of the game, the fans, will finally act through their lack of participation which would be a fitting legacy for the brickheads running the show…

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