:: Editorial

The games within the Delhi Games

Oct 17 : With time running out, almost every related project behind schedule and pressure increasing by the day, Indian Olympic Committee president and 2010 Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi is in a fix. And what better way to deflect attention from the deficiencies in the planning and implementation for the Delhi Games than to kick up a fuss over a virtual non-issue, brand it "imperialism" and label genuine concern — and an attempt to monitor and improve preparations — from the Commonwealth Games Federation as "interference". Mr Kalmadi tried all of this and even sought to pin the blame for tardy progress on one individual, the chief executive of the Delhi Games, Mr Mike Hooper, calling him an obstruction and saying he has been "of no use". At the same time, Mr Kalmadi sought to wiggle out of commitments made to the CGF in the form of a technical review panel which he now feels will become a "multiplicity of agencies" working towards the Games. When the CGF General Assembly met for six days in Delhi last week to assess progress in preparations for CWG 2010 after CGF president Mike Fennel publicly expressed concerns over the possible failure of the event, Mr Kalmadi had to agree to the technical panel keeping an eye on the work here. Yet, it took just four days for the IOA head to look for ways out of the scrutiny and monitoring process. At one level the organising committee’s feelings about outside supervision may be justified — but only if there was no reason for concern and work was progressing as per schedule. To try and bring extraneous factors into play to deflect attention from the legitimate concerns expressed by the federation, and its attempts to improve matters, is quite simply the worst form of politics. It is also a desperate bid to keep control over an enterprise that is threatening to slip away. After all, control is the lifeblood of the Indian politician and potentially losing command over such a prestigious venture would have been galling for a professional politician. Kalmadi and Co. may have a point about interference and outside control, but, to an extent, it is a problem of their own making. Then again, it is so typically Indian to let things slide till the very last minute before waking up to looming reality. The immediate aftermath of Mr Kalmadi’s demand that Games CEO Mike Hooper be removed has been a summary rejection and a reiteration by the CGF that the monitoring panel would very much be constituted. This could have been avoided had there been more attention to lagging projects and related areas of preparation. Since that has not happened, matters appear headed for a showdown. In all this, work on the Games itself seems to have taken a back seat and those who can remember recent history will recall an interesting parallel. Ahead of the 1982 Asian Games, progress was just as tardy as in this case. That was when Indira Gandhi stepped in, told Rajiv Gandhi to take over and gave him a virtual blank cheque. The outcome is well known. It may quite well be that Mr Suresh Kalmadi is waiting for history to save the day.