Cleansing Azharuddin’s Crimes

+04302009-11-23T12:31:12+04:30302009b+04:30Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:31:12 +0430 2, 2008 at 7.27 +04:3011 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Crime, Politics, sports

Crime committed in society is short lived in the memory of people. Taking advantage of this situation, politicos play their game endlessly. A party which promises to provide life and hope to all Indians is violating its code of ethics. Mohammad Azharuddin the tainted cricketer who once redeemed the lost status of India in the international cricket and then sold the status of the nation for few million dollars has been patronized by India’s first political party. After TDP refused his entry, Congress embraced him with open arms. To his luck, Moradabad people validated his candidature and gave him the victory with 48,000 words margin. Today the party is seriously considering him to be the Muslim mascot to be paraded in the U.P assembly election in 2012. If Congress is good in popping up criminals and saying its nature as political diplomacy to win the electoral war why it is not using the same to win the terrorist battles and international games. As the electoral victory level of Congress looks better it must abandon these kinds of criminal patronizing games. The same card has been played in Maharashtra where the goons of Shiv Sena and MNS are allowed to clash and keep the Congress in power. Is this is the contribution of the Congress party for the development of the nation? It is destroying the political culture and forward movement of the nation. The Times of India writes on 22 November 2009 Mohammad Azharuddin may be cleansed of the match-fixing taint for good, with BCCI willing to reconsider the lifetime ban on the former India skipper, in a development which can potentially add to the lustre of Congress’ new Muslim mascot. ( Watch Video ) The fresh bid to extricate the Moradabad MP from disgrace comes from a Congress eager to pitchfork the ex-cricketer as a key campaigner, having launched him politically with a massive win from the minority-dominated Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The move is being facilitated by the dual roles of UPA members as politicians and cricket managers. Hectic lobbying in this direction took a Congress delegation led by AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh – that included Congress MP and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla – to NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Friday. Pawar, who is ICC vice-chairman, directed the delegation to BCCI chief and close associate Shashank Manohar who has succeeded Pawar in BCCI. Rajiv Shukla told TOI, “I spoke to the BCCI president. He said if Azhar files a petition, it would be taken up in the next AGM.” There is an all-round eagerness to bail out Azhar, be it the player himself or his political home or even the present cricketing setup. It was under Pawar’s helmsmanship that the hallowed doors of the cricketing world were opened for him in 2006 after they were slammed in 2000, with the Punjab Cricket Association inviting him to witness the Champions Trophy semifinals in Mohali. Congress’s eagerness to lift the lifetime ban on Azhar stems from its strategy to unveil him as the new Muslim mascot. Its revival plans in UP require glamorous minority faces to take on “secular rivals” SP and BSP even though the party’s own secular credentials and the leadership of the Gandhi family scion seems persuasive enough to woo the community. The recent party win in Firozabad bypolls where it trounced Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law has been attributed to largescale shift in Muslim votes from SP. Alive to the threat posed by shifting minorities and a resurgent Congress, SP was quick to act, snapping its relationship with once Hindutva mascot Kalyan Singh and raising the pitch on minority agenda. For Congress, planning to use the favourable mood to rejuvenate itself in the fallen fort of UP, SP’s vulnerability has heightened expectations. The unveiling of the onetime cricketing idol in identity politics seems an intoxicating prospect for strategists. It’s not a coincidence that rival SP too brought in this week its Maharashtra legislator Abu Azmi as the new minority face to cash in on his “defiance” of Sena outfits. Azmi fills the void left by Azam Khan’s expulsion following his high-voltage rebellion. Congressmen feel the Hyderabadi’s election victory in far-removed Moradabad has proved his appeal among the community. While the ban is seen as academic in nature given that Azhar is past the age to make a comeback, it would still come in handy in buffering him from a future assault on the issue of “integrity”. On the poll trail, the opposition targeted him for match-fixing, citing his excommunication from cricket, to question Congress’s commitment to probity. The question of ban keeps popping up every time Azhar is mentioned in social circles. It is hoped that he would be free from embarrassing queries once BCCI overturns its order. Digvijay Singh said, “We want the lifetime ban to go from the man who brought laurels to the country with his skills. There were many players in the match-fixing case but they are all free of the ban. Why should the one on Azhar continue?”