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Mainstream, Vol. XLVIII, No 34, August 14, 2010

Commonwealth Games

Sunday 22 August 2010, by Sudhir Vombatkere

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If the articles and TV exposé that are dominating the news channels and dailies are true even to some extent then the very essence of holding the CWG to showcase that “India has Arrived” is an absolute nautanki. Just look around—scandals in training camps, inflated budgets and tenders all involving government agencies and the Organising Committee, sub-standard materials and construction (on visuals) and allegations-cum-counter-allegations (not staged by the Opposition this time) by people from and within the system itself proves that the pillage is so blatant and unparalleled in scale that the entire scenario smacks of involvement of people in power and the powerful.

Some overzealous soul will come up with a clichéd defence that it happens in other countries too. Well, should we be comparing ourselves with the worst and the most depraved? I recall an article after the 2008 Olympics in the People’s Republic of China. Please correct me if I am wrong. It was about a corrupt official. Was it the Beijing Mayor or an assistant Mayor who was arrested immediately after the Games concluded? Mr Mayor was caught making big bucks and I read this chappy was summarily convicted and shot. But then we cannot do this, we are a Democracy. A democracy that is tailored and refitted to allow the politicians and powerfully rich and connected to plunder and ravage the country and its people at liberty. Do the toiling and struggling citizens of India deserve this?

In my lifetime I have never seen such havoc unleashed across its length and breadth by some citizens on their country and countrymen. Wonder if a saviour will ever emerge out of this state of anarchy to end this chaos. But surely I will not be interested to watch a third-rate nautanki with 95 per cent athletes never making it to an Olympics event (with a few exceptions of course) and winning medals with much fanfare (only the timings and records being halfway of the Olympics standard). Yes Mr Kalmadi and his cahoots will get the gold medal for his deeds. The way Kalmadi is being hounded I hope doesn’t have a heart attack before the Games !!!

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