Sports and Politics

TN chief Minister  has ensured that no SL players will play in the IPL matches to be held in Chennai  In the national media and SL ,people have aired views  that sports should not be politicized and sports should be looked as sports and it should be beyond the realm of politics .I feel sports has always been politicized all over the world and it is right to do so. There is nothing wrong in TN government 's stand on SL players vis-a-vis IPL matches in TN. Look at all the sporting bodies in India,be it state Hockey or Cricket Associations or All India Federations, most of them are headed by an active politician .Why on earth all politicians are interested to be at the helm of affairs in all sporting bodies ?.If we genuinely want sports to be devoid  of politics no politician should hold any office in any sporting body.It is also true many former sports persons are active politicians throughout the world. Politics and sports are intertwined. When nations employ sports diplomacy ,why cry foul over politicising sports for right causes. When sports diplomacy is resorted to improve strained relations between nations ,there is  nothing wrong in asking for exclusion of a particular nation's players as a mark of protest . Did not the world approve China-US Ping pong diplomacy ?On the same of token ,did not the sporting boycott of South Africa during the Apartheid ,bring the desired results finally ?Cancellation or resumption of cricket ties with Pakistan and India is always decided by our political bosses for essentially political reasons. Precisely for the same reason an IPL team owned by a TN franchisee also should not have SL players .

During the famous 1932 Ashes series where the infamous bodyline bowling was used by the England captain against the Australians,an Australian player termed it 'unsportsmanlike'. Diplomatic cables were exchanged between the two nations demanding  withdrawal of the insult.There were talks of a trade boycott. Finally after the intervention of the Australian PM the row was settled. In 1981 Australia bowled underarm to New Zealand to ensure the Kiwi's do not tie the series.The New Zealand PM called it as the "most disgusting incident I can recall" More recently IPL teams refusing to sign Pakistan players was considered a snub to Pakistan .

Olympics have been boycotted by many nations on many occasions for political reasons .Is it not politicising sports ?.1956 Melbourne Olympics was boycotted; by Netherlands,Spain and Sweden for Soviet invasion of Hungary. The same Olympics was boycotted by Lebanon and Iraq for Suez Canal crisis. 1964 Tokyo Olympics banned SA for its Apartheid oppressive policies. In 1968 Mexico Olympics two US athletes were expelled for raising 'Black Power' slogans on the winning podium . 26 African countries boycotted New Zealand's participation in 1976 Montreal Olympics. In the same Olympics Taiwan was barred from entering Montreal. US and 62 other countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics. As a revenge USSR and 14 other nations boycotted the 1984 Los Angels Olympics. In 1988 North Korea boycotted Seoul Olympics . Cuba and Ethiopia joined the boycott with North Korea for solidarity.

More recently did not India cancel a hockey series with Pakistan because two Indian soldiers were beheaded at the border.? As a tit for tat ,did not Pakistan's Punjab Olympic Association urge all sports fraternity in Pakistan to boycott playing with India in all sports  ? Did not India issue a boycott threat to the recently concluded 2012 London Olympics ,because DOW chemicals responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy was a main sponsor of London Olympics ?

More than 1.75 lakh Tamils were massacred by the SL forces in the 2009 war .I am at a loss to understand why a big hue and cry is raised over the call for boycott of SL players in IPL matches to be held in Chennai . Are we so insensitive to what is happening to Tamils in SL and the sentiments of Tamils in India ? . We must admit there has always been a relation between sports and politics. It is as old as politics. I am afraid, of late problems related to TN are looked upon increasingly by other political parties north of Vindhyas and the media as an issue of TN politics and brinkmanship by TN politicians. My concern is that such attitudes should not alienate TN from the mainstream . I am sure any dispassionate observer would agree with me that ,no other Indian state would have tolerated a dumb and spineless union government for the indiscriminate killing by a neighboring country of more than 500 of our own fishermen. The inaction by the union government on this issue speaks volumes of their apathy on issues related to Tamils and TN. There is one similarity between SL government and our union government .Both governments are least concerned about the genuine plights of Tamils ,be it a SL Tamil or an ethnic Indian Tamil.

Lessons learnt

I am not referring to the LLRC of the Sri Lankan government . I am referring to the the Lessons  learnt  by DMK and Congress  because of their inaction at a crucial time during April /May 2009  SL war. Now both parties are trying to make amends to the irreparable damages caused by them . Now both parties are trying to rebuild their image and get some acceptance  among the Tamil people whose sentiments were hurt . I called their efforts to mollify the Tamil sentiments  as LLRC(Lessons Learnt and Rebuilding Commission )  more as a pun. Nevertheless I don't  know if they are serious in their efforts .Because every move by a political party will have an hidden agenda . For DMK ,withdrawal of support to UPA is a face saving action , to claim  they are the real champions of the Tamils. Else they would be wiped out in the ensuing 2014 elections . For congress it is a question of survival of the UPA government . Having been reduced  to a minority government ,with DMK pulling out its support , congress is now trying to save its government by passing a resolution in parliament and also trying to make last minute amendments to the UNHRC resolution.

Sonia Gandhi now talks about her concern for the plights of Tamils in SL. Congress now says the intended resolution in parliament is for Tamils and not for DMK. DMK says there is no going back on its decision to withdraw support to UPA .They insist on including the word genocide in the resolution . Look how politically expedient these two parties are  !  Soon after the war when Rajapakshe said he 'fought India's war ' publicly,strangely these two parties reactions were marked by silence. Compare it with the Bangladesh war . India fought Mujibur Rehman's war then. Congress was in power at center then also . Indira Gandhi was hailed as 'Durga matha ' by Bengali's in India and Bangladesh. Why did India use a different yardstick this time ? .This stand of India at the time of the war is really  inexplicable .Congress knows for sure ,if it does not  act now, it is going to draw a blank in the 2014 elections in TN. Even cadres of the DMK and congress in TN were unhappy with stand  of their parties . But they were tongue tied,because of their  party's stand. This is evidenced by the bursting of  fire crackers  by DMK cadres soon after DMK pulled out of UPA . Though  congress cadres in TN did not show their happiness so explicitly they were also relieved that this could pave way for some explicit commitments by these two parties on the SL issue.

There is no denial of the fact there had been excesses by the SL army during the war. It needs to be probed by a dispassionate international body. More than that ,the rehabilitation of Tamils in the island  treating them with dignity,equal opportunities in education and employment ,and an official status for the Tamil language  are what the Tamils  demand. Almost 4 years have elapsed since the 2009 war ,but no respite for the Tamils is in sight. This makes even an unbiased observer to think there is a sinister design in the actions of the SL government.It seems there are neither plans for reconciliation nor any lessons have been learnt even after constituting an LLRC by the SL government.

The TN fishermen are killed or attacked  by the SL navy with impunity at regular intervals when they are fishing in Indian waters. It is surprising that the Indian government has not so far issued any stern warning to its so called friendly neighbor so far on this issue. It is disgusting that the fishermen are always referred to as TN fishermen and not as Indian fishermen. Are they not Indians ?.It is high time GOI should assert itself as a major power in the South Asia and stop looking at these issues with geo political concerns or strategies. Another important lesson to be learnt by DMK and Congress is that any party or government that doesn't care a hoot about the popular sentiment will be thrown out unceremoniously by the ballot power . One hopes the spontaneous uprise in TN will make the GOI see reason and look at the UNHRC resolution on SL as human-centered and not as a strategic issue. This is another lesson to be learnt by, our foreign policy makers .