IPL rocks the House
19 May 2012 5:08 AM GMT
The Indian Premier League (IPL) entered Parliament and the national discourse in a way that looks unprecedented in the sporting history of the country. Soon after the spot-fixing saga and the Shah Rukh Khan brawl at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, a case of an IPL player allegedly molesting a US national at a Delhi hotel added enough punch to the controversies so as to take the matter to Parliament. Â
On Friday, the members of Parliament cutting across party lines demanded strong action, if not an outright ban, against the IPL. However, there was no official position taken by the principle political parties. The Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told Millennium Post, 'It is not essential to react to everything.' Similar was the official reaction given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman on this issue.
Earlier in the day, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) took a serious note of the brawl at the Wankhede Stadium and barred Khan from entering in the stadium for five years. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not look too impressed with the action of its associate association. Its vice president and MP Rajiv Shukla said, ''I will take the version of the MCA, Shah Rukh Khan and the police before talking about the issue. I will speak to the MCA president Vilasrao Deshmukh on this.' He added, 'The MCA can only recommend a ban, but the final decision will rest with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.'
Meanwhile, the Union law minister Salman Khurshid termed the Khan-MCA scuffle as 'very sad'. He told reporters outside Parliament, 'These are very sad developments in our society. Clashes between citizens and authorities are always very sad things.'
The BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad had earlier created an uproar in Parliament regarding the spot-fixing issue and on Friday he demanded that IPL be 'closed'. He told reporters outside Parliament, '[The IPL] should be closed. ... I am sitting on a hunger fast at the Feroze Shah Kotla from May 20. Some other cricketers and civil society members will also join me.'
He said, 'The IPL, I suppose, is only entertainment. ... But we have money laundering; we have violation of foreign exchange; we have one player slapping another; there was a sting operation for spot fixing. Now rape was left. ... That has also come in.'
Agreeing with Azad, the BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said, 'It is not IPL; it is a rave party,' which he believed was ‘against Indian culture’. Talking of the molestation incident, he added, 'If semi-naked girls continue to dance after every four is scored, then this is what will happen. This format should be scrapped immediately.'
The Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy also demanded a ban on IPL. He said, 'I demand that the government ban the IPL tournament forthwith, since game's collateral consequences are a degeneration of a civilised game of cricket into a vulgar display of money, immorality, all converting into a serious national security threat.'
This issue too was raised by the Left. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury questioned the tax exemption given to IPL. He demanded that the 'tamasha should end; only sports should prevail'.
Agreeing with them, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav echoed similar sentiments as he asserted, 'IPL should be stopped.' Remarking on the Khan and MCA spat, Yadav said, 'Banning Shah Rukh Khan is wrong. The MCA should not have taken this action. It is a conspiracy. All this was done in hatred.'
Khan also garners the support of the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is batting in favour of the actor. She appealed to the MCA to revoke the ban. She said, 'I appeal to them to reconsider the decision, because there may be some emotional aspects. He had gone to the stadium with children. There must have been some misunderstanding.'
On Friday, the members of Parliament cutting across party lines demanded strong action, if not an outright ban, against the IPL. However, there was no official position taken by the principle political parties. The Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told Millennium Post, 'It is not essential to react to everything.' Similar was the official reaction given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman on this issue.
Earlier in the day, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) took a serious note of the brawl at the Wankhede Stadium and barred Khan from entering in the stadium for five years. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not look too impressed with the action of its associate association. Its vice president and MP Rajiv Shukla said, ''I will take the version of the MCA, Shah Rukh Khan and the police before talking about the issue. I will speak to the MCA president Vilasrao Deshmukh on this.' He added, 'The MCA can only recommend a ban, but the final decision will rest with the Board of Control for Cricket in India.'
Meanwhile, the Union law minister Salman Khurshid termed the Khan-MCA scuffle as 'very sad'. He told reporters outside Parliament, 'These are very sad developments in our society. Clashes between citizens and authorities are always very sad things.'
The BJP MP and former cricketer Kirti Azad had earlier created an uproar in Parliament regarding the spot-fixing issue and on Friday he demanded that IPL be 'closed'. He told reporters outside Parliament, '[The IPL] should be closed. ... I am sitting on a hunger fast at the Feroze Shah Kotla from May 20. Some other cricketers and civil society members will also join me.'
He said, 'The IPL, I suppose, is only entertainment. ... But we have money laundering; we have violation of foreign exchange; we have one player slapping another; there was a sting operation for spot fixing. Now rape was left. ... That has also come in.'
Agreeing with Azad, the BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said, 'It is not IPL; it is a rave party,' which he believed was ‘against Indian culture’. Talking of the molestation incident, he added, 'If semi-naked girls continue to dance after every four is scored, then this is what will happen. This format should be scrapped immediately.'
The Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy also demanded a ban on IPL. He said, 'I demand that the government ban the IPL tournament forthwith, since game's collateral consequences are a degeneration of a civilised game of cricket into a vulgar display of money, immorality, all converting into a serious national security threat.'
This issue too was raised by the Left. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury questioned the tax exemption given to IPL. He demanded that the 'tamasha should end; only sports should prevail'.
Agreeing with them, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav echoed similar sentiments as he asserted, 'IPL should be stopped.' Remarking on the Khan and MCA spat, Yadav said, 'Banning Shah Rukh Khan is wrong. The MCA should not have taken this action. It is a conspiracy. All this was done in hatred.'
Khan also garners the support of the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who is batting in favour of the actor. She appealed to the MCA to revoke the ban. She said, 'I appeal to them to reconsider the decision, because there may be some emotional aspects. He had gone to the stadium with children. There must have been some misunderstanding.'
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