Books on political science don’t give you an apt definition of politics, especially the kind practised these days in many parts of the world.
Words like “governance”, “statecraft” and “polity” sound too academic and straight-laced when politics now is all about clinging to power or aspiring to win power at all costs, even if it means bringing a bad name for your country.
So we have someone like the rabidly anti-Muslim Donald Trump leading the Republican charge as the US prepares to elect a new President. In other parts of the world too, right-wing sentiment is gaining ground.
In India, the world’s largest democracy, Narendra Modi’s ascension to power has changed the course of the country’s politics to such an extent that it has become a mad race to prove one’s “patriotic” credentials.
The BJP rose to power by successfully casting the Congress and its partners as anti-nationals who have looted the nation’s wealth. The Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which ruled the country for most of the nearly 70 years after independence, has been all but politically wiped out. Its scion, Rahul Gandhi, has been virtually reduced to a pathetic caricature inspiring more pity than mirth.
Pundits say it would be some time before Modi’s stars would wane. His surprise trip to Pakistan and his bonhomie with Nawaz Sharif raised hopes that the subcontinent would finally be able to shed its historical baggage and emerge as a positive influence for the rest of the world. Trade and tourism would prosper, cultural exchanges would bring the people together, cricket tours would become so frequent that the edge from the rivalry would disappear, diehard peaceniks thought.
Unfortunately, that is not going to be the case at least where cricket is concerned, thanks to the rather late dawning of ‘wisdom’ on the Chief Minister of the state of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh that Pakistan is unworthy of touring India because of its “support” for anti-India militants.
Citing the militant attack on the Pathankot airbase, Singh has now refused to provide security to the Pakistan team who were supposed to take on India in a high-octane clash in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup at Dharamsala on March 19.
“If it was any other country we would have agreed, but not Pakistan,” he said. Coming from a veteran Congress politician, it has caught the BJP unawares. Left with no worthwhile cause which it could take up, the Congress has resorted to the last resort: patriotism.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur, who is also a BJP Member of Parliament, lashed out at Singh for “playing politics”. Ironically, Thakur was also vehemently opposed to any cricketing ties with Pakistan in the past, but now his party is in power and that changes the equation.
Chief Minister Singh’s stance has sent the Indian government scrambling to look for an alternative venue. Apparently, Mohali and Kolkata are being considered.
Cricket is the safest best for politicians when it comes to holding a country to ransom, and this time it is the Congress that is at the forefront. Previously, it was parties like the BJP and Shiv Sena that used such tactics with great success.
Meanwhile, it is India’s reputation that is taking a beating. But apparently in politics that is par for the course if that helps you stay in power.
