Subir Bhaumik
A huge spat between two cricket officials is threatening to adversely
impact India-Bangladesh bilateral relations at a time when these are at
their best. Bangladesh Planning Minister A.H.M. Mustafa Kamal has
resigned as the International Cricket Council (ICC) president to protest
against the country's “humiliation†when he was denied the opportunity
to present the World Cup 2015 to winners Australia at Melbourne.
Presenting
the trophy to the winners is something ICC presidents have done since
1999 - until ICC chairman N. Srinivasan usurped the privilege in a
hastily convened ICC executive on the day before the March 29 World Cup
final. He got the ICC to seek a formal apology from Kamal for his
outburst against “poor umpiring†during the India-Bangladesh
quarterfinal. When Kamal refused, Srinivasan got the ICC executive to
bar him from presenting the trophy and bestowed it upon himself to do
the honours. Kamal has since returned to Bangladesh, resigned as ICC
president, called Srinivasan a "mentally deranged man" and someone
"impossible to work with" and even called the ICC the "Indian Cricket
Council".
It appears that Srinivasan, who had coldly dared Kamal
to do anything he wants, is planning to hit back. His supporters are
trying to force an emergency meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket
in India (BCCI), where they intend to get it to cancel the tour of
Bangladesh in June 2015, during which Team India is expected to play two
Tests and three ODIs.
Srinivasan supporters will argue that
Kamal's tirades can no longer be treated as a “personal issue†- Kamal
says he is upset with Srinivasan and has nothing against the Indian
board - as Srinivasan is the Indian board's representative in the ICC.
But
Srinivasan has large number of opponents in the BCCI who will stoutly
oppose such plans, arguing that it is a personal issue and the BCCI
cannot afford to create a diplomatic row. If they can't stop Srinivasan
from having his way, they will wish the cancellation of the Bangladesh
tour will boil over into a major crisis and Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's government will be forced to intervene. If the BCCI cancels the
tour, Kamal will surely get Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who too has
lashed out at the “poor umpiring†and the "uncivilised behaviourâ€
towards Kamal, to intervene.
India is beholden to Hasina for her
crackdown against Islamist rebels and those from India's northeast who
were long sheltered in Bangladesh before she assumed power in January
2009. With her government allowing heavy equipment for power projects
and grain
consignments to go through Chittagong port to the
northeastern state of Tripura, New Delhi feels it is payback time. Modi,
who is keen to push for improved relations with all neighbours, plans
to visit Bangladesh this summer after the Indian parliament clears the
long-pending Land Boundary Agreement. He plans to land in Dhaka with the
LBA done and at a time when he can possibly promise a Teesta
water-sharing agreement soon enough. Indian diplomats in Dhaka have made
it clear Modi should not come empty-handed.
So, the last thing
that Modi and his foreign policy team can accept is the BCCI calling off
the tour, especially when Pakistan is also sending its cricket team on a
tour of Bangladesh this summer. It may be a much better idea for Modi's
foreign policy managers to step in before the crisis explodes in the
open. And, Indian interests cannot be held hostage by someone like
Srinivasan, who has been barred from contesting BCCI elections by the
Supreme Court but has managed to get the board to nominate him as
India's representative at the ICC and then become its all-powerful
chairman.
Kamal's outburst on umpiring may be an immature act.
It may well be that Kamal is trying to shore up public support for his
beleaguered Awami League back home by playing on nationalist sentiments
at a time when it is desperately trying to counter the BNP-led transport
blockade and strikes. But, Rohit Sharma was out by all means and Rubel
Hossain's ball was surely not above the waist! It's anybody's guess as
to what would have happened if he had walked back at 90 and not when he
had made that wonderful century - or if the in-form Mahmudullah Riyad
had not been given out to the controversial Shikhar Dhawan catch in the
deep. But at the end of the day, cricket is just a sport, and should we
say much-tainted sport, with all its match-fixing and IPL scams. And
there is no good reason to hold India's relations with a friendly
neighbour hostage for a controversial cricket administrator who has not
exactly covered the nation with glory over the years.
(Bhaumik is a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at [email protected])
