Kirti Azad holds T20 fast for ban on IPL
21 May 2012 4:56 AM GMT
The Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament and former cricketer Kirti Azad on Sunday sat on a hunger strike, demanding transparency in the functioning of cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) outside the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in New Delhi.
He was accompanied by the former cricketer Vivek Razdan and a handful of supporters, including some Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) officials, Azad's close friends and the yoga guru Ramdev's followers. The former cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi was also supposed to participate in the hunger strike, but he could not make it. The hunger strike ended in three hours.
Azad said that the IPL has unfolded like the script of a Bollywood movie, where the latest series of incidents have only added more drama to the T20 league. 'IPL is like cinema where you'll find everything - hero, heroine, villain, vamp, black money, action, molestation, rape, match-fixing. Greed, lust for money and sleaze has taken over cricket, and that is the one thing I am fighting against,' he said demanding that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) be brought under the Right to Information Act.
Azad said, 'The incidents that have taken place in the past few days have made me feel ashamed as a cricketer and avid lover of the game. My fight is not against any individual but against the system and the various ills plaguing the IPL.'
There have been lot of controversies in the ongoing IPL - spot fixing by five uncapped domestic cricketers, Bollywood star and Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan's spat with the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) officials and the molestation charges against the Royal Challengers Bangalore player Luke
Pomersbach.
Talking about the incident involving the MCA officials and Khan, Azad said, 'Somebody got drunk and went into the cricket ground where nobody is allowed to go after a match. This is a mix of intoxication and entertainment.'
Azad talked about other issues troubling the IPL. 'The IPL, I suppose, is only entertainment, but we have money laundering, we have violation of foreign exchange, we have molestation case, we have one international Indian player slapping another Indian player, there was a sting operation for spot fixing. In that slapping case, you banned the player but you should have imposed a life-ban on him,' he said.
The BJP MP from Bihar said the BCCI should have taken a lead from the incident involving the three Pakistani cricketers, who were jailed for spot fixing by the London Crown court.
'Look at England. Three Pakistani cricketers were sentenced to jail. In India, whenever something happens, BCCI officials quickly gang up and start rubbishing the allegations. In the case of five uncapped cricketers, they were merely suspended by the BCCI and were not handed over to the police,' he said.
He was accompanied by the former cricketer Vivek Razdan and a handful of supporters, including some Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) officials, Azad's close friends and the yoga guru Ramdev's followers. The former cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi was also supposed to participate in the hunger strike, but he could not make it. The hunger strike ended in three hours.
Azad said that the IPL has unfolded like the script of a Bollywood movie, where the latest series of incidents have only added more drama to the T20 league. 'IPL is like cinema where you'll find everything - hero, heroine, villain, vamp, black money, action, molestation, rape, match-fixing. Greed, lust for money and sleaze has taken over cricket, and that is the one thing I am fighting against,' he said demanding that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) be brought under the Right to Information Act.
Azad said, 'The incidents that have taken place in the past few days have made me feel ashamed as a cricketer and avid lover of the game. My fight is not against any individual but against the system and the various ills plaguing the IPL.'
There have been lot of controversies in the ongoing IPL - spot fixing by five uncapped domestic cricketers, Bollywood star and Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner Shah Rukh Khan's spat with the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) officials and the molestation charges against the Royal Challengers Bangalore player Luke
Pomersbach.
Talking about the incident involving the MCA officials and Khan, Azad said, 'Somebody got drunk and went into the cricket ground where nobody is allowed to go after a match. This is a mix of intoxication and entertainment.'
Azad talked about other issues troubling the IPL. 'The IPL, I suppose, is only entertainment, but we have money laundering, we have violation of foreign exchange, we have molestation case, we have one international Indian player slapping another Indian player, there was a sting operation for spot fixing. In that slapping case, you banned the player but you should have imposed a life-ban on him,' he said.
The BJP MP from Bihar said the BCCI should have taken a lead from the incident involving the three Pakistani cricketers, who were jailed for spot fixing by the London Crown court.
'Look at England. Three Pakistani cricketers were sentenced to jail. In India, whenever something happens, BCCI officials quickly gang up and start rubbishing the allegations. In the case of five uncapped cricketers, they were merely suspended by the BCCI and were not handed over to the police,' he said.
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