Lessons from the games

Never in all the years I have known him have I ever agreed with Mani Shankar Aiyar about anything. So it is with some nervousness I admit that on the Commonwealth Games I agree with him one thousand per cent. Who was the lunatic who bid for them in the first place? He needs to be identified and horsewhipped in public for putting India in such a disgraceful situation. If it was Suresh Kalmadi, then horsewhipping is not punishment enough because having landed the Games he should at least have known that he should do nothing that would expose India’s corrupt and incompetent underside to an international audience.

Did nobody in the Government of India notice that cities that bid for international sporting tournaments are cities that have some basic civic amenities in place? They have decent roads, a public transport system that works, hotel rooms in adequate supply so usually all that needs to be built are a few new stadiums. If you go through the Rs 11,000 crore budgeted for these Games, you will find that nearly half the money is being spent on extras like improved policing and cleaner monuments. Yes, the Asian Games were held in Delhi once long ago (and a side benefit was colour TV) but they were on a smaller scale and in retrospect as much a waste of taxpayers’ money as the Commonwealth Games. The stadiums fell to ruin in months because they were built in shoddy fashion and Indian athletes were rarely allowed to use them. The Asian Games village was first occupied by politicians and high officials then the apartments were sold. This may have been the only profit the Games made for the Delhi government. What is more important is that not a single sport in India benefited in any way.

Instead of these mega events, what Indian sportsmen need are basic facilities like proper stadiums, decent accommodation, financial support and nutritious food. Until we provide these facilities, not just in small towns but in villages too, we are not going to produce sportsmen who can win medals in international sporting competitions. When, somehow, one emerges despite the absence of basic facilities, we make such a ludicrous fuss over said sportsman or woman that it makes me personally cringe with shame.

So lesson number one, from the appalling mess that these Commonwealth Games have turned out to be is that we need to create basic facilities for Indian sportsmen. China did even when Mao Tse Tung was killing off millions of his people through famines. There was always food and shelter for athletes. This is why China’s tally of medals at the Olympics is always in double digits. Russia did even when it was the Soviet Union and most of its citizens lived in misery. India failed in sports facilities almost as miserably as we have failed to create the schools and universities we so desperately need. So our young people are busy picking up guns and fighting real wars from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Stadiums may not stop children from stoning policemen in Srinagar or get the Naxalites to surrender their arms but they will help channel some of the energies of that half of India’s population that is under the age of 25.

The second lesson we can learn from these Commonwealth Games is that we must ensure that politicians and bureaucrats are kept firmly away from sporting organisations. It cannot be the job of ministers in the Government of India to head major sports bodies. Nor can it be the job of senior bureaucrats. Judging by the appalling state of governance in India they should have more than enough on their plates without interfering in sports and sporting events. At the Olympics, the Indian team is an embarrassment because there are usually more officials in it than athletes.

The third lesson we can learn from the Games is that we must stop deluding ourselves into believing that India has escaped the Third World category and is now an emerging economic superpower. We are not. If we ever reach that position, you can be sure that the first thing that will happen is for our cities to start looking like modern cities instead of glorified slums. As things stand, we have to sadly admit that there is not a single Indian city that is modern even by the standards of Asian cities like Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok. Delhi, despite all efforts to tart it up for the Games, still looks bad and it is much better than the rest. In Mumbai, you know you have landed in a Third World country from the moment you touch down in an airport that appears to be sprouting out of a slum. So until we get our fundamentals right, no more Games please.