Thursday 24 November 2005

Respect our Heroes

Democracy may not be the best form of governance – but it surely is a great leveler.

Well – you don’t win all the battles all the time. Saurav Ganguly learnt it the hard way and now it is the turn of the inimitable Laloo Prasad Yadav. The fall of these two from their throne, for me, are the defining moments in the history of this nation.

Saurav ruled Indian Cricket for five long years. He ruled Indian cricket like a true Maharaja that he is. He was the undisputed king till not so long ago. It took a Greg Chappell to dethrone this king. Ironical (?) – yes - but true. Though for me it was a sad day for Indian cricket when Ganguly was dropped as captain of even the Test team. Was I surprised? Hardly so. We Indians are known to bow in front of white skin and the selectors bent head over heels in Ganguly’s case. After the spat between Greg & Ganguly – Greg is the one blowing the winning trumpet. Can’t imagine if Australians or Englishmen would have allowed a coach that too a foreigner to actually blackmail selectors to remove a very popular captain of a national team. We have now come to expect such treatment meted out to our heroes. We dropped Krish Srikanth after a commendable Pakistan Series – where for the first time India was able to draw a cricket series with Pakistan in Pakistan soil. We dropped Mohinder Amarnath simply because he called the selectors a “Bunch of Jokers”. We dropped Dilip Vengsarkar for no apparent cricketing reasons. We have done it with Dhanraj Pillai & many others in our national game of Hockey. Goes to prove that performance need not be the defining criteria for selection. It does also prove one other point – we just don’t know how to treat our heroes. In any case, India lacks real life heroes and when & if we do get someone – we leave no stone unturned to pull them down. After all Dhanraj Pillai was removed from the Indian Hockey team on the pretext that he was dividing the team by spreading venomous rumors amongst players. A man we thought was very popular among his teammates was charged with dividing a team! And who told this to us – well – Mr. Gerhard Rach. And who was he? He was the first foreign coach (German) appointed to coach Indian Hockey team! He went on to say that Dhanraj Pillai is a bad man! Well – we believed Mr. Rach. It again proves my theory of how our senses work overtime when a white-skinned guy says something. These foreign coaches tell us how bad our heroes are and our necks immediately go into “oscillating” mode. Up & down… up & down… up & down…Huh.

Consider Sourav’s achievement – other than his achievements of the last 4-5 years as captain (and other than the fact that he has scored 15000 runs in International arena), he is the man who got us a series victory over an International side outside the subcontinent.  And mind you – we had to wait for 18 years to get such a series victory. Never mind the opposition (in this case Zimbabwe). We have played more than 3 series with Zimbabwe (in Zimbabwe) before the last one and we had not won any of them. In that series of two test matches Saurav scored a century in and a half-century. He has scored 3 centuries in the last five International & Domestic matches. Not more than 10 months back - he was hailed as the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket. But lo-behold! Welcome Mr. Chappell. Mr. Chappell tells us that Ganguly is a liar. He tells us that he manipulates selections to “keep” his own place in the team. He also tells us that Ganguly spreads rumors to keep his side divided… and his list of charges go on & on. Hardly a description of someone we thought was an excellent leader and a motivator! Amazing. And believe it or not – our 5ft’ 3Inches Chairman of National Selection committee – Mr. Kiran More & the other stooges in the selection panel accepted 6Ft 3Inches Australian Coach, Mr. Chappell’s “apt” description of our Captain. Physical height of a person does have its affect I must say! What did our todly-podly selectors then do? They removed the captain. Finish. Over. No questions asked – none would be answered. Selectors are God and they shall be heard. After all a white-skinned guy has accused our captain. How can he be wrong in his analysis? Wow! Justice delivered. Saurav can go to hell for all they care. But curiously, the selectors have now included him in the squad of the first Test Match to happen between Sri-Lanka and India. Only the first Test Match? How many national selectors of other countries announce their teams for only one test match (?) – when there are 3 matches to be played in the series. Well – our selectors did. They are hoping against hope that Ganguly will fail in the first Test Match and then they will get a reason to drop him from the squad. Goodbye Mr. Ganguly. You were good to us – but we don’t want you anymore. You can only get as much for giving your life and energy for the country. Huh. Nice way to treat our heroes. No wonder no one wants to be a hero these days in this country. You never know when people will pull you down. We will keep looking up to the likes of the Bachchans, The Shah Rukhs, The Akshays, etc. Frankly speaking, we deserve to remain a country without real-life heroes, unless we learn to be in awe of their rise & also respect their eventual fall.

Coming to the other big event of this year – the fall & fall of Laloo Prasad Yadav. I remember when I saw NDA surge to absolute majority (in Bihar elections on Tuesday) – the first thing I did was call my Dad up and tell him – “Democracy seems to have finally won Dad”. That was the first thing that came to my mind and that I think really epitomizes the results. Democracy has definitely won in Bihar. After 15 long years of neglect, dejection and negative development of the Bihari people – they have spoken. And have spoken resoundingly. It does take a lot of effort for people to come and vote twice within a year. But vote Biharis did. They were given a chance by strict security arrangements made by Election Commission – and they grabbed it with both hands. 15 years of misrule has finally “paid-off” for Laloo.

Laloo was the undisputed leader of Bihar. He unfortunately also typifies the criminal face of politicians in India today. He is responsible for bringing hardcore criminals into politics. He along with his wife has been party to innumerous number of corrupt practices, scams and financial malpractices. Don’t know how many more scandals & irregularities the new government of NDA will unearth – once they get settled in the business of governing Bihar. Men like Laloo have been responsible for bringing this “once respected profession” of politics into disrepute.

We can attribute a lot more that has gone wrong with politics in India to this man – but we should not forget that he ruled the state for 15 long years, which means – he has won 3 assembly elections on his own. And we should also not forget that there has been a fall of only 0.87% of his support base. The voting analysis clearly shows that he still retains a healthy 31% of mass support – which means that every third person (who voted) in Bihar, has voted for him & his alliance partners. And let us not forget that this election has been hailed as the fairest of all the elections ever held in Bihar – where people have voted without any fear or scare. Which is truly remarkable, considering all the above facts. This man seems to have done something good somewhere to retain his base even in adversity. Is it his personal charisma or has Laloo really bought a social change in the lives of downtrodden. Only time will tell. But it is now clear that NDA has won because of the fall in support base of Independent Candidates & Ram Vilas Paswan’s party (LJP). So though I am (for the first time I must confess) delighted at the victory of NDA – I still feel Laloo cannot be written off. This government looks set to govern for 5 years. But will 5 years be enough to even start making a change in the fortunes of Biharis? I am apprehensive. But for the sake of the Biharis and also for the sake of this country as a whole – which needs a prosperous and disciplined state of Bihar – I hope Mr. Nitish does succeed. I hope he sets things right over the period of time allotted to him. I wish him all the luck.

Truly speaking – I have always been worried about the legacy we leave for future generation. And that scary feeling has been increasing by the day. We need to leave a good legacy when we finally bid adieu to this life. Who will be the role models, the real life heroes of our future generation? For everywhere I turn – I see corruption, I see treachery and I see people pulling at each other to go on top. The breed that had simplicity & humbleness as their virtues has all but vanished. The innovators & the real achievers have almost become extinct. Leave a few like Narayan Murthy or a Dhirubhai Ambani. There are not many to find. And since most of the news splashed across the dailies & on our picture tubes is about Politics – it is political figures that influence our social thinking. And therein lies the problem. The growing rate of deterioration in political values & morals has been overwhelming in the last few years to say the least. Picture this: you accuse some leader of Murder – he/she says it is a plan of opposition party to deface him/her. You accuse any leader of involvement in corruption charges – it is always attributed to Opposition party’s game plan. You accuse anyone of being involved in looting, arsenal or a fraud – well – pat comes the reply, “It is a concocted story & a false charge on me. It is opposition’s handiwork”. Great. You hear someone’s voice on an Audio Transcript talking about buying Legislators (as in Ajit Jogi’s case) or if you see someone openly taking bribe/money on Television (as in the case of more than couple of BJP MPs) – they are all work of opposition parties. It can’t get worse than this I guess. Either everyone thinks that people of India are foolish or they out-rightly don’t care what people think about them. Even a Shahabuddin, a Raja Bhaiyaa, A Mukhtaar Ansari, a Pappu Yadav claims to be “servants” of the people in their constituency. Well – even Laloo never accepted that his state of Bihar is backward and that the state has gone from bad to worse. Sometimes some one like Narendra Modi seems to be notches above the likes of people like Laloo. Modi may top the chart as the facilitator of mass murder (in riots) – but he does work for upliftment of his state. Today Gujarat is a model state in many ways & I am sure it is largely because of efforts of Mr. Modi. But I will be damned if I was asked to look upon them as role models. They cannot claim to be even close to the definition of a role model. If they were to be our role models – I shudder at the thought of our country’s future. It is in that context that I feel this loss of Laloo Prasad Yadav’s rule has come at the right time. My belief in the future of my country has increased manifolds. For once, we as citizens of this country have risen and have done what is right. Thank You Bihar – you have helped restore the faith.

Someone needs to do something similar to the famous “bunch of jokers” – the so-called selectors of Indian Cricket & hockey teams. They need to be brought down from their saddle and need to be taught a lesson. I care a damn for this bunch of unfaithful, ungrateful  & selfish selectors of the game of Cricket & hockey. For all I care about them – I will continue to support Saurav Ganguly in these times of despair. I support him for the joy he has given us with his batting. I support him for his brand of fresh & aggressive captaincy. I support him because I want him to play and go out gracefully. He has been a wonderful ambassador for our country and we need to ensure that he does not feel ashamed, alienated & disgraced. Rahul Dravid once aptly said – “What Saurav has achieved for Indian Cricket, after taking over the reins of the team in those difficult times, I could never have done”

Saurav, Dhanraj or even Laloo have been responsible for turning around the fortunes of their team in their own different ways. Though they have gone over board at times – they still have done something remarkable. They have earned their respect & they should be given their due. There is nothing wrong in punishing them if they are guilty. But let us not drag them down to their knees. For all they have done & achieved - they deserve better from us. Yes Sir – they do.

I respect India’s heroes and I wish we all did the same. In this land of Mahatma (Gandhi) bashers’ time has come to start injecting the lessons of right morals, ethics & values into people. Our future generation will look upon us for directions and we need to be equipped to teach them the right values.

Think about it.
Mantosh Singh..
24th Nov 2005’