Politics stoops to new low each passing day

“Let me admit it. The Indian Hockey Federation is in a complete mess owing to some officials’ lust for power and the parochial approach surpassed the epic battle of Mahabharata. This undoubtedly throttle Indian hockey”.

This is what the former president of the FIH, Rene Frank, said while evaluating India’s national game’s affairs after it got the fluke Moscow Olympics gold.

Thirty years have passed since Frank’s frank view on Indian hockey, and we still feel the situation has not changed a wee bit.

If at all things have changed its from bad to worse.

One lobby which belittled the National Championships when it was in power – famous quote: Nationals are mediocre versus mediocre – and broke the annual event’s continuity with immunity is, now, all of a sudden, fanatic lover of the National Championship. This lobby claims to hold Nationals, and we know it is for media.

This lobby also now loves transparency, and even believes the concept of Right to Information. And would you believe each year an AGM!

This lobby now looks like a Non Governmental Organization fighting for basic things — much the way the right thinking people did the last one and half decade — which they denied to public at large when they ruled all along.

However, it is a nice lesson that time has taught them, forcing them to think and talk of transparency and understand the significance of Nationals, on public stage at least.

This group is damn sure a court case is going to be delivered in their favour, and hence, as gossip goes, renewed activity, breaking tie with the once tormentors, Hockey India.

Anybody has a right to dream, fight for rights and be in contention for chair. So also the disgraced the former outfit. We are no sore on that score.

If the nationally disgraced outfit is alive today and dreams of coming back, it was because the same set of people who vowed to clear up the hockey mess, has indeed further messed up.

Not to be undone, the FIH made a merry by handing over the key to the thieves, so to say, and dreamt, or pretended so, everything will fall in line.

What has ultimately fallen was its own reputation of a global body, as it is now being seen as a confused benefactor, nothing less.

FIH was not only ill-advised but also thoroughly ill-timed to implement its reform policy, especially the merger of men and women federations.

This has opened the floodgates of manipulative politics. A third element, State Olympic Associations, made a back entry to hockey’s electoral college, leading to a spate of court cases.

Anybody who is somebody in the sports now dream of hockey chair. At ground level, that is grass root level, the things are in worst shape, and each passing day another set of manipulation takes place. People are stooping too low. The fight for vote has stooped to unheard levels of dishonesty, impropriety and even inhuman.

Take for instance, look at a recent development, a copy book case of inhuman ways of snatching power. Husband of a lady secretary of a State unit died recently. Even this tragedy was turned into some lobby’s lust for power.

As we all know the just widowed lady would not come out of home for two weeks as per the custom. Using this as a chance, one faction called a meeting and elected themselves, and then sent a caveat to her. Even a death of a former colleague’s husband had been made out to be a chance to go one up! Things are so nasty, rotten at state level.

Those who tasted power are not ready to relinquish it. It is applicable to those who lost it and those who usurped it.

The situation in hockey today is a lot many people are getting elected themselves, and some of them are definitely going to elect the central body. We can only pity on hockey, the national game which did not have honest people in majority.

Rene Frank from heavens must be wondering why in India nothing changes. He would have certainly felt things were better in the 80s, the battle was like Mahabharata where at least some decency and ethics were followed.