Friday, January 22, 2010

Humiliating to whom?

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : A humiliating non-auction
In my opinion, N.Ram is clearly over-reacting. He says it is a humiliating non-auction. To whom? Clearly not to India. To Pakistan? May be. But why is N.Ram giving us the Pakistani viewpoint? I would rather read in Jung or Dawn. Not from this phony Pakistani.

He says Indian Govt and BCCI did not send encouraging signals. What signals? What is N.Ram expecting here? That they should stand waving Pakistani flags for a commercial event owned by private parties? The Govt approved the visas in time. Job done. It is not the Govt's responsibility to influence the auction process.

Secondly, N.Ram worries about the repercussions of the IPL snub. Pakistan is reacting and making noises. It might derail the budding peace process. And all that usual secular rhetoric of the candle light vigil groups.  But there is no reason why we should take the Pakistani reaction seriously.

Cricinfo in its blog post points out that most newspapers have reacted angrily against the non-auction. But I was glad to read the below piece in Daily Pioneer. I urge you all to read it. It puts things in the right perspective. Events present us with opportunities. And Ashok Malik rightly identified tremendous opportunity in the IPL non-auction.

Ashok Malik also touches upon a very important point related to the expression of middle-class opinion. As far I can tell, this is the first time they have been able to influence the outcome of a major event. Or may be, more realistically, the team owners took a decision that would please the middle class. Whichever is the case, when the middle class has a similar effect on the decisions of political parties, it will change the political landscape.
The Pioneer > Online Edition : >> IPL has added to MEA options
The second is to consider a broader phenomenon — the increasing role of Indian business in both shaping and reflecting foreign policy and its concerns.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LiC does not like His Master's (China) poodle (Paki) being shown its place !

Anonymous said...

Consequence of this non-auction would be the introduction of a quota bill in parliament by secular parties, demanding reservation for the Pakis in the IPL.

Then Chief would be mighty pleased!