Not very far from this news piece, was another series of news articles on almost all websites, where there were discussions about the breach of Parliamentary Privilege notices against Team Anna members , growing resentment of people against politicians and how they thought that many of their leaders were incompetent, and about the allegations that many of them were corrupt - to the extent that some are in jail, and some are on their way to jail.
These two articles were very symbolic for me. If I take the emotion out of the first articles and take the person, and if I take the person out of the second and consider only the emotion - it gives me a chance to evaluate our ex-cricketer MP in light of the current wave of political awakening that is gripping India. Lets see what I mean.
This ex captain of Indian cricket team is one of the best cricketers our country ever had. He was one of the most responsible batsmen, and an outstanding fielder. And the only reason for him to leave international cricket was a lifetime ban that was imposed on him for his involvement in match fixing. Serious charges ? Of course yes ! These charges mean that he must have been involved in activities that involved exchanging materialistic favors for ensuring that our country loses in the game of cricket, or at least ensuring that he doesn't play a positive role in ensuring a win. Sports reflect a nations passion, and hence the pride. Compromising on the passion of 1 Billion+ people , is like sacrificing the pride of the nation. And since there is a lifetime ban on him, there is not an iota of doubt about it.
Some would say thats an old story. Agreed. So, time passed, and hemoved from cricket to politics - something that was close to his heart, even as a cricketer. He contested the Lok sabha elections, and is an elected MP from now. This is where I have a problem - A person, who has a proven role in compromising on the pride and passion of the country, has been found eligible to be able to run this country, and represent the people of this country. Isn't that an irony? Someone whom we found ineligible to represent us in our country's cricket team, and banned him for life, now represents us in the temple of democracy?
I might sound harsh to be attacking a person at such a sad moment n his life. However, he is just a case in point that I am raising. There are several other politicians who have criminal cases filed against them, and proceedings are currently going on. Still, we the people of this country, turn insensitive to their history while making our choices in elections. Why ? What are our priorities while selecting our leaders ? Why don't we ask these question to them, or at least to ourselves ? There are some fundamental questions that we need to answer here…
