[Assam] Sports under Ministers

[Nava Thakuria]

Sports under Ministers  
  
The national convener of Clean Sports India, BVP Rao, did in Guwahati recently 
what citizens of the State have not had the courage to do in years. Having 
arrived in the city to participate in the Abhiruchi Sports Day regularly held on 
September 3, Rao issued a press release that was a critique of the sports 
scenario in the State. He said that Assam’s case was one of the worst in the 
country where most of the State sports associations were headed by ministers. 
“It is ridiculous that two ministers of Assam — Himanta Biswa Sarma and Rockybul 
Hussain — occupy about 25 per cent of positions in sports associations of 
Assam,” he said in the press release. He recalled the corruption and scandals in 
which politicians were involved (like Suresh Kalmadi in the Commonwealth Games 
scandal) which had shamed the nation recently. He thought that ministers of 
Assam were emulating the role of Kalmadi in taking control of sports. Rao said 
he had the feeling that sports persons of Assam were afraid to raise their 
voices against politicians. He said that sports persons of Assam had no reasons 
for such fears since the Clean Sports India Movement was taking roots all over 
the country. He said the days of politicians like Kalmadi were numbered in the 
sports world. It was, therefore, the opportune time for sports persons of Assam 
to clean up the mess in the State sports by joining the Clean Sports India 
Movement. It will be recalled that Clean Sports was founded in June this year 
with just ten members headed by former India hockey captain as president and 
athletic Olympian Ashwini Nachappa as vice-president. The well-known sportsman 
of Assam, Bhogeswar Baruah, joined the movement as a founding member along with 
footballer Tosen Borah.
Rao’s claim that two ministers of Assam control 25 per cent of the State’s sport 
could send the wrong signals about the extent of politicians’ control of sports 
in Assam. If anything, politicians have a stranglehold on Assam’s sport. Chief 
Minister Tarun Gogoi himself is president of the Assam Olympic Association (AOA) 
while Rockybul Hussain is the secretary. Rockybul Hussain is also the president 
of the Assam Athletic Association (AAA) and the Assam Table Tennis Association 
(ATTA). Himanta Biswa Sarma is the president of the Assam Badminton Association 
(ABA) and the Assam Hockey Association AHA). Minister Gautam Roy is president of 
the Assam Cricket Association (ACA). AGP leader Durga Das Boro is president of 
the Assam Lawn Bowls and the Fencing Association. Assam Pradesh Congress 
Committee (APCC) president and MP is the president of the Assam Kabaddi 
Association (AKA) and the Assam Canoeing and Kayaking Association (ACKA), 
Congress MLA Bhupen Bora is the president of the Assam Volleyball Association 
(AVA). There is hardly any sports association that is not headed by a 
politician. Anyone not familiar with our culture of having politicians at the 
head of sports bodies would think that these politicians must have distinguished 
themselves in the sport that they are in charge of at some time or the other. 
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Most of the politicians heading the 
sports and games bodies know nothing of that game or sport. 

Throughout India, the performance of sportsmen or athletes in any game or sport 
supervised by any politician and with government-appointed officials and coaches 
looking after them has been dismal, to say the least. It is only in the games 
and sports not supervised by state-appointed coaches that India has done well. 
In that list we have games and sports like chess, golf, shooting and badminton. 
Let a politician give up the stewardship of any game and pass it on to a 
distinguished sportsman and we shall a marked improvement of standards in that 
game. The Clean Sports India follows the hallowed tradition of sportsmen like 
Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand and what they have been able to do to 
badminton with their kind of leadership. In contrast we have games like football 
(in which India is nowhere) and hockey (in which India was at the top for years 
and then nose-dived to the depths) when the game was taken out of the 
stewardship of professionals. We want more and more sportsmen and sportswomen 
doing what is good for their careers and for their sport or game — getting out 
of the stranglehold of politicians and demanding that sports and games be looked 
after by professionals. 

  
http://www.sentinelassam.com/editorial/story.php?sec=3&subsec=0&id=46559&dtP=2010-09-05&ppr=1#46559