Apr

10

The torching of the Olympic spirit

April 10, 2008 posted by indiatime |

Yesterday, Suresh Kalmadi, the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) chairman, invited young parliamentarians and political personalities to participate in the Indian leg of the Olympic torch. “…They (the organisers) want people from all walks of life to take part in the relay including the sportsmen and people from various walks of life…”, said Kalmadi, before inviting young members of Indian parliament including Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jiten Prasad and Sachin Pilot.

People from all walks of life? Man, someone’s kidding us here. Kunwar Jiten Prasad is the son of late Indian National Congress Vice President Jitendra Prasad, a loyal Congress party member for years. He was recently elevated to become the minister of state for Steel. He studied at the famous Doon school. Rahul Gandhi, the son of India’s late prime minister Rajiv, also attended the famous Doon school and is recently in the midst of a ‘discover India’ tour. Jyotiraditya Scindia, who also attended the famous Doon school, is the son of the late Congress loyalist Madhavrao Scindia, and also another newly promoted minister of state in the New Delhi cabinet. Sachin Pilot, the last name of Kalmadi’s list is the son of late Congress party loyalist Rajesh Pilot.

It wasn’t known whether the young dignitaries from ‘all walks of life’ had accepted the Olympic committee’s invitation. “…We are yet to go personally and invite them…”, said IOA president.

What a proud day for the Olympic movement. As per the charter of the Olympic movement, some of the roles of the International Olympic committe are :

- to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport,….to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, …, the spirit of fair play
prevails (item 1)

- to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes (item 10)

- to encourage and support the development of sport for all (item 12)

That politics has metastasized into every walk of our lives is a given by now. But the extent to which the gullible public gets duped by the politicians and even the media is to me, beyond astounding. I have nothing against the fine young parliamentarians and young politicians who are only following their family traditions. I even have no issues with the fact that most of them pretend to come from all walks of life though they universaly seem to be coming from the famous Doon school. That can be a coincidence. What surprizes me is that in the middle of the Tibetan human rights issue that has now surely become a sideshow at the Beijing Olympics, we here in India, are still playing politics about carrying the symbol of humanity’s greatest movement, totally oblivious to human rights concerns in our very own backyard.

The reason that is disingenuous, is because, there are those who will argue that in the spirit of Olympics, the carrying of the torch should not be politicized and should be allowed to carry on without any protests. If you buy the argument about ‘not politicizing the torch bearing’, then you should also be able to protest the ‘politicization of the torch bearing’ by inviting a special group of invitees to carry the torch, people who have no history of notable sports activities ever, but are in this position merely because of their family connections, wealth, political affiliations, cronyism or as alumni of a particular high school.

For now, the IOA’s definition of ‘people from all walks of life’ does not include teachers, workers, bank employees, truck drivers, farmers, soldiers, seniors. So its list of Olympic torch bearers is full of politicians, cronies, celebrities, and a few sports heroes who are on the list probably to legitimize it. No matter who bears the Olympic torch in India two weeks from today, these so-called celebrities from all walks of life are certainly not making a good case to become this nation’s torch bearers for years to come.


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5 Comments so far

  1. Choice to carry the Olympic torch | DesiPundit on April 11, 2008 8:31 am

    [...] of politicizing the Olympics, the torch relay in India is reaching ridiculous levels. Indiatime comments on Suresh Kalamadi’s decision to include “people from all walks of life”. Noble intentions indeed except they are [...]

  2. Kiran on April 11, 2008 8:37 pm

    I hope this is just a rant! Rationally speaking, I think/hope you also realise that your argument is fallacious and fraught with improbabilities!

  3. sam on April 11, 2008 8:45 pm

    Well said Indiatime. It is very true, that the true spirit of sportsmanship does not exist anywhere in India, surely it is non existant in the political field.

  4. India’s Gallantry award allowances : It’s Indiatime on April 12, 2008 2:00 pm

    [...] The torching of the Olympic spirit [...]

  5. Is the Olympic Torch Relay a stupid exercise? on April 16, 2008 12:31 am

    [...] where non-sportspersons are carrying the torch and the IOC is pimping out political favors by offering the torch to young undeserving politicians. And finally, don’t we look kinda pathetic making such a fuss about the Olympic torch when we [...]

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