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| Feb 14, 2000 | ||
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| Take
on the Mob
Safffron hooliganism is undermining Indian democracy
Stop the Gravy Train Do cricket sponsors want to keep pampering mediocrity ?
Corporate houses fund cricket in two ways -- officially through the board and privately by entering into deals with individual cricketers. It is time minimum standards of accountability were sought for these huge promotional budgets. Withdrawing from blindly pumping the board with money, let sponsors ask it for specific plans for developing the game -- and then finance these. When it comes to cricketers, companies should consider cutting their endorsement fees when they play poorly. This would make commercial sense too. Would consumers want to watch an advertisement featuring a batsman who can barely survive at the crease? Whether it is in negotiating with board officials or individual cricketers, sponsors operate in a seller's market -- if one company drops out, another steps in. Maybe the way out is for the giant sponsors to form a cartel and -- as the ESPN-Star Sports partnership did with telecast rights -- put the brakes on the gravy train. Otherwise, the game can chug along to damnation. |
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The
methods of the Sangh Parivar affiliates that are battling Water are, of
course, objectionable. Their logic too is questionable. They want the
film's script made public, seeking to judge intellectual property in the
way the Inquisition decided who was a heretic. Their singling out of Mehta
for an alleged defamation of India's most ancient extant city only reflects
the complete lack of a sense of history, of the very tradition that is
claimed to be defended. Two and a half millennia ago, Gautam Buddha made
more critical remarks about Varanasi -- about its takeover by a self-serving
priestly elite -- than Mehta would ever hope to. Presumably the Kashi
Sanskriti Raksha Sangharsh Samiti will next run a posthumous campaign
against that first great dissenter. From stopping cricket matches to film
screenings, saffron vandalism holds all India to ransom. It is a painfully
familiar routine -- first create a violent situation, then force the state
to cancel the event citing a law and order problem. The mob gets what
it wants -- forcing its opponents to compromise and earning itself enormous
publicity. The only loser is Indian democracy, having to give that much
more room to intolerance.
About
a week has passed since the Indian cricket team returned home after the
clobbering in Australia. The players are still omnipresent on the television
screen -- smiling, giggling, gambolling, endorsing everything from toothpaste
to suit lengths. For a bunch of losers, India's top cricketers certainly
live a good life. They are unique in the sporting arena in that they are
paid equally irrespective of performance. This simply should not continue.
A system of performance-based wages offers scope for greater motivation.
It will be argued that the cricket board's pay cheque accounts for only
a small portion of a big star's wealth. Substantially greater sums come
from sponsors. They are the ones who have a double duty to perform.