ajay-maken

It has taken a long time to come, but finally it is happening.

After three months of highly heated debates and a back-and-forth atmosphere, finally eminent sports-persons have come out to support the Sports Development Bill unequivocally. But why did it take so long?

For so many weeks I wondered where the top sportspeople were and where did they stand on this issue. In this business you often hear sportspeople complain, legitimately, about all the problems they face because of the corruption-laden system. But the first time a minister – no less – worked to rid sports of some of the deep rooted malaise, he was doing it alone – literally. Chances are even in his ministry there would be some more than happy to see the bill fail owing to their complicity with the loot of sports.

Maybe Ajay Maken himself should have brought athletes together to support him in his endeavor right from the start. Maybe he underestimated the challenge.

But it has taken some weeks even after the first draft was rejected for India’s premier athletes to finally speak up. Is it too late? Imagine a more sustained campaign right from the inception of this bill. The pressure and public opinion built would have been hard to ignore by now.

Would the IOA and BCCI still pay heed to this strong but late out-pour of support? Or shud I ask – does the Minister and his athlete allies have a plan? Are they hoping they will make a revolutionary change with anything less than that?

The bill is being called sport’s ‘Janlok Pal’. The irony is even the original Janlok Pal hasn’t seen the light of day. Maybe a measure of half of the protest that went into pushing Janlok Pal into prominence is what the sports bill needs too. But where is its Anna?