CommonWealth Games but UnCommonWealth Opportunities
Really Sad…..Corruption refuses to recede…. again rears it’s ugly head…Now at the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee
It’s adding to this India’s Hall of Shame of Thousands of Crores….Defence Scams……Mining Scams….Telecom Scams….Sports Scams
Are we a Shameless Nation with no Conscience where Corruption is concerned !?….Patriotism and Pride confront Reality
I remember 1982…and the Asian Games ,New Delhi…..was a 20 year old in college in Mumbai….and 14 of us formed a Group….stood in shifts overnight in Lines for Tickets for various Games Disciplines…got a 50% Railways Travel Discount as Students…. and thoroughly enjoyed the Asian Games…it was great Fun…interacting with the Singapore Sports Team on Janpath……cheering the English in the Equestrian Events….interacting with a Host of other nationalities…..and ofcourse cheering our wrestlers,boxers,athletes,swimmers,tennis,badminton and table tennis stars and our Hockey Team at the Events…New Delhi was one Big Festive City….A single Bus Pass took us around all Stadiums…Security was tight even then…..it was an experience that I was fortunate to see in person,while most sat at homes at viewed it on TV,many on the ‘in demand’ Sony Wooden Box Model 5052 !
That was New Delhi then…Only Congress…no BJP…..only Door Darshan TV Channel….no Hundreds of Channels,Public and Private….and so virtually no external TV Media Scrutiny….Sportsmen and Women Playing for Country’s Pride…Games that cost a few Hundreds of Crores
This is New Delhi Now……Congress and BJP and a Host of other Political parties with a selfish coalition running India…..and Hundreds of TV Channels….RTI Act and extensive External Media Scrutiny…..Leading World Sports Personalities Dropping out of the Commonwealth Games on some pretext or the other…Games that have ballooning Costs of over Rs 11000 crs directly and over Rs 30000 crs if one includes building up our Capital’s Infrastructure that will benefit beyond the Games
We are taught to think Big and think Scale…..So with such Mega Bucks involved in organising the Commonwealth Games,even Corruption is being uncovered on Scale !…so if aggregate direct and indirect costs to host this Commonwealth games are close to Rs 35000 crs or close to US $ 8 Billion Dollars,it can be safely assumed that there will be leakage of atleast US $ One Billion at the least…an aggressive guess would be close to US $ 3 Billion !…Phew !
What’s Integrity to An Opportunity !
What’s the Point of Naming Names ! ?…..Tell me who is not Corrupt….who does not abuse their Position and Power in Bureacracy,Business and Politics ?….who does not have a nexus with Criminals to further their vested interests?….I’m not talking of Exceptions to the Rule !….I strain my eyes to spot any selfless and visionary in our Political Set Up….my vision is getting blurred
I’m afraid,it looks like even the Judiciary is made from the same Cloth that drapes our Executive and Legislature Arms….A True Democracy can only Thrive when these arms function Independently of each other’s Vested Influences
With Political Leaders and Parties either being Mute Spectators, Passive Observers or even defending,often too aggressively, all the Ministers,Leaders and Bureaucrats that are suspected to be involved or instrumental in the Scams stating that these are only accusations and they are all innocent till proven guilty is nothing but creating complicity in the Scams
India’s 1.2 Billion People are being shorted by it’s Political Leaders and Parties to further their own interests and those of their Party….’Aam Aadmi’ be damned !….Often Party Spokesmen stoop to such levels in their ramblngs on TV News Channels that methinks they need Medical Counselling……they may win Comedy Shows but will lose in IQ Tests !….and most of them are Practising Lawyers by Profession !….rest my case !
Just under Two Months are left for the Games to begin…….We must deliver a Fabulous Commonwealth Games…….Ideally this Organising Committe should be superseded immediately by People of the Highest Integrity and Propriety in India to ensure Full Transperancy and Accountability and Respectability and Credibility too……This Government owes it to all of us…….However the ‘Not Enough Time’ Argument may just save this Organising Committee….but methinks that if they should be allowed to complete the arrangements it should be under new supervison of a High Level Panel of Three Above Board Leading Luminaries….that much atleast should be done today itself !
With such controversies we now definitely need Divine Intervention from all our Gods to make a success of the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi
Only Then can India be a serious bidder for the Olympic Games sometime early in this 21st Century and while I’m yet blogging!
Those who are involved in uncommonly privatising wealth in these Commonwealth Games surely will have to face their conscience…they live on a round earth and sooner or later their indiscretions and indulgencies will catch up with them full circle…either from serious Introspection or by Investigation….I’m sure of this
Whatever….I love Sports…am a Sports Fanatic….and I’m going to enjoy the Commonwealth Games,New Delhi,2010…in full Spirit and Substance
Cheers !
3 thoughts on “CommonWealth Games…..UnCommonWealth Opportunities……”
hey lalit modi would have made charmain of OC. then it would be glamours sport event & in the end scam would have come out.
imagine, when our guest sport perosns occupies there appartment, they may find bathroom without taps or without wash basin or without beds as contractor may have forgotten to install it…..lol
Sir,
As you rightly said ” Who is not corrupt”, I believe that the main crux of the problem lies in our Judiciary. As and when I analyse these wrongdoings in our country which are only getting worse by the day, the only actors to blame in this shameless drama are the ones who have power to punish but are themselves having a sunbath with golddust. Sir, please let me know if your opinion differs. Would appreciate your view on this.
SJV…you are abs right…I had always held that if it were not for our judiciary and media,our Politicians and bureaucrats would have even sold our Qutb Minar !……this view has been shaken considerably in recent times….for instance the Supreme Court Judge that signed the Order just before he retired, for CBI to pursue the Shorabuddin Sheikh case and close it by a deadline was actually accused by the CBI itself for being a beneficiary in the PF Scam that had rocked the Ghaziabad Courts….he was exonerated just before retirement and CBI dropped his name from the list of people that they sought to be penalised for the Scam !……Another Delhi High Court judge had squashed suo motu the Bofors FIR and lavished praise on Rajiv Gandhi….he was quickly given a sinecure post on retirement by the Delhi CM of one of the quasi judicial Bodies !…..it has to be connected
….making a sham of the Congress Spokesmen who keep ad nauseam repeating that it’s not a Congress vendetta but the Apex Court that has directed this CBI Investigation in the Sheikh case !….mind you I’m not holding a brief here for anyone….this has been covered by The Afternoon & Despatch Courier in their Editorial in their edition of August 2,2010… http://afternoondc.in/afternoondc/editorial/higher-judiciary-too-cut-from-the-same-tattered-cloth-isnt-it/article_6327