It was a Messy affair. The organisers made a complete mess of it. Make no mistake. Have no doubt or confusion. The uncalled for and untoward incident at Yuva Bharati Krirangan is highly condemnable, by all means. None would possibly like to hear anything against the popular sentiment, at this point in time. But for dispassionate, sensible, logical and right thinking people, the concerted effort to malign the soccer loving people of the city and the city and state, as a whole, using this event, would raise more questions than it answers. Blaming it squarely on the Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee for political advantages would also spark off questions and suspicions. It was not an official programme of the state government and the Chief Minister had only been invited at this privately-organised jumboree. The state had only extended support and help because it would have helped state’s overall brand building initiatives. If it would not have done it, that would have also evoked sharp criticism and controversies, for sure. If the Chief Minister and the state had intervened too much in organisational aspects of a private event, that would have also raised serious controversies and criticisms. Too much of orchestrated attack against the Chief Minister and her government over mismanagement of a purely private event, to gain political mileage before the polls, should raise some suspicions before rational people, and one does not have to be a staunch Mamata and TMC supporter fir that!
Yes, one should raise valied questions about why so many water bottles, soft drinks bottles were allowed inside the stadium, when law clearly dissallows that? Yes questions should be raised about why so many people were allowed to surround Messi all the time? Questions should be raised about why a high and revolving platform was not put up to facilitate Messi fans have a better look at their icon, sitting at the gallery? Questions should be raised about why Messi was not allowed to take a round (like the victory lap) of the ground along the boundaries? If you are charging so much, why had not such simple things occured to the organisers? In any such games of sporting event, gallery show is not anything uncommon. Why no such activity was pre-planned? In all such big events, especially involving an international icon, a second-to-second itinerary is prepared, rehearsed, approved more than once before the final event. A mock drilling of the sort also takes place. Did anything of the sort take place? Is the Chief Minister of a state supposed to monitor and ensure all these for a private event?
Now national soccer bodies, run mostly by the Saffron Brigade, have come forward conveniently to blame it on the Chief Minister and her government, on grounds that no permission had been sought from them and they had not been kept in the loop about the organisation of the event, If no private soccer event can be organised without their consent and without keeping them posted about the organisational aspects, why had not them stop the event in the first place? Were they waiting for some diaster to happen? A somewhat similar uncalled for event had taken place at the Eden Gardens in 1996, thanks to similar unruly crowd, during one India-Sri Lanka match was on and Indian batsmen were throwing their wickets one after another, except for Vinod Kambli. That match had to be abandoned and match point was awarded to Sri Lanka. Was there any criticism aganst the then Chief Minister or his government? If my memory does not fail me, it was blamed on the emotionally surcharged, unruly crowd.
There are also umpteen instances where an unruly and emotionally turbocharged crowd was pacified and brought under control, by paying heeds to their legitimate demands and making some prompt, alternate arrangements. But in this case, it looked like a section of the unruly crowd was hellbent on not giving the organisers any such opportunity. the fire had been set and the opportunity of dousing the fire was not given. Why would soccer fans run amok with particular flags, festoons (no way connected to sports and games) and shouting slogans like “Jai Shri Ram”?
Forget about soorting events, even the much-hyped Maha Kumbh Mela earlier this year, which was a government event, was not without such untoward incidents. Who was held responsible for that?
I AM A CITIZEN TOO, a fair second chance…
In the Yuva Bharati Krirangan episode, the common people who shelled out their hard earned money to have a glimpse of their icon- Messi, suffered immensely. They should atleast be financially compensated. But more damage was possibly done to the city’s and state’s image and reputations. Therefore those who had not coughed uo their hard earned money and were not present on the ground on that fateful day, are also equally sufferers. It should be our collective responsibility to compensate ourselves for that damage alteady done and ensure that no further damage is done.
Let there be a genuine, thorough and time-bound investigation, as promised by the Chief Minister. Let the truth come out. Let truth prevail.
