All about Narinder Singh Batra, who is in the limelight, bringing in focus what he considers the autocratic functioning & lack of transparency of the IHF regime headed by KPS Gill.

Not many know Narinder Batra, one of the seven vice-presidents of the Indian Hockey Federation, till he made his outburst on IHF President Gill open three weeks ago. On returning from Hyderabad, where PHL was inaugurated, Gill called a media briefing in New Delhi and invited Batra to attend it. Though the meet was for the purpose of countering the rumblings of outgoing coach Gerad Rach, Batra’s presence drew the attention. Batra shared the dais though refused to share the views of Gill on many issues. Batra has certainly scored a point that day by daring to be there. When Batra reaffirmed that he would firmly stand by what he told the press on the style of functioning of IHF a week ago, Gill has skipped the issue, stating in his characteristic way that all the issues Batra raised would be discussed in the January 30th AGM to beheld in Hyderabad. For those who know Gill’s respect for Executive Committee and AGMs, which are as much love as he has for holding the Nationals, his game of hide and seek was crystal clear.

To know all about Batra one should go back to 2000 Nationals. It was his show all the way. But for his efforts, Nationals that year would not have held at all. He was just elected president of the J&K Hockey Association, and he wanted to do something to prove his ascendancy. Laying of first ever synthetic turf in the state at Jammu, his hometown, came in handy and after a grand inauguration of if, he staged an All India Grade I tournament (Sher-e-Kashmir Cup). Encouraged by its success he made a strong bid for the Nationals, an uncared for baby in Gill’s regime.

Gill utterly failed in his duty to hold the Nationals regularly, the last one held in Hyderabad in 1998. To shut the protests, which were mild but regular, he formed many committees. One such suggested new format for the Nationals. Vice President Jesudanam, a rare wise man in the other wise ‘Yes Men’ gang of Gill, proposed, as president of the Committee, a Zonal Format. His report was hardly noticed till Batra came forward. As Organising Committee Chairman of the National Championship in the beautiful, newly laid Hakku Stadium, he not only held the event but also helped five Zonal competitions to take place, by defraying the expenses on his own, that too in advance.

J&K HA paid Rs. 2 laks to those centres where five teams participated in the Zonal format and 2.5 lakhs where teams were more than five. Bangalore, Bombay, Hyderabad, his own Jammu, Rampur, and Imphal hosted the Zonal matches, out of which two teams made it to the main round at Jammu. Except Bangalore, other SHAs did not submit audited accounts for the amount J&K HA had sent. This has irked Batra, especially when complaints after complaints emanated from players who felt the money was not spent properly at Rampur. Read 6-page report under ‘Controversy’ section in the 2002 Hockey Year Book’ for further details. Batra took up the matter with Gill but somehow allowed the matter to fade. One reason he gave me that time was, ‘no player or manager was willing to give their complaint in writing’.

As a true businessman, he marketed the Nationals very well. Compared to previous two Nationals (Hyderabad and Bangalore) there were many hoardings on the stands. Coverage was so good, the matches drew reasonable crowds.

So far so good. As the Main round progressed, handful of journalists covering the event found to their dismay how it was ruthlessly meandering to a one man show. Nothing would move without Batra. He ran the show with an iron hand, even surpassing known limits. Every day seating arrangements were changed. He even dared to interfere in the work of Tournament Director Peter Menezes, elder brother of well known goalie Jude Menezes. Somehow his relationship with umpires too deteriorated. Batra’ sidelined the only international umpire that J&K produced, Sareen, who made his international debut in the Pan American Friendship Hockey Tournament, was virtually ‘forbidden’ to enter the stadium. On the penultimate day of the Nationals, his love-hate relationship with the umpires reached a flash point. All the umpires staged a protest as their fee was cut. Batra argued that since the umpires used the food coupons certain money ought to be deducted from their fee. What the umpires thought the J&K HA’s hospitality cut their pockets severely. On this issue he told me, “I am not running langar (free food served in places of worship)”. I covered the incident extensively for stick2hockey.com, a year old baby then.

Sensing more trouble for the next day, he spoke to Gill the same day night and got his consent to post local umpires for the final, discarding the host of international umpires present there. He was proud his rela