Why we are fuming over our sports minister taking selfies at Olympics
There were three occasions when sports ministers had global media attention in the ongoing Rio Olympics. The first was when Solomon Dalung, the Nigerian sports minister, apologised to his country's footballers because they had to arrive late in Rio, just six hours before their match, which they won eventually.
The second was when Portuguese sports minister Tiago Rodrigues was robbed at knife point of his cash and mobile phone on his way back to the hotel. His entourage consisted of just one aide - an advantage which the two robbers exploited to the hilt.
The third when the Indian sports minister was issued a threat of cancellation of his accreditation not because of his behaviour, but because of his coterie and their aggressive and rude behaviour in the events arena.
The foremost question - are you responsible for your coterie? The answer is a resounding yes morally, and as a minister, you are also accountable for their misbehaviour.
Moreover, the threat letter on an issue that has nothing to do with the games or sports and focuses on discourteous high-handedness of a bunch of Indian officials on a platform where the whole world is competing for glory, actually brings bigger shame to a nation.
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| Indian sports minister Vijay Goel was issued a threat of cancellation of his accreditation at the Rio Olympics. |
In the Olympic village, our sportsmen and women would be with hundreds of their colleagues from all over the world. Intermingling in the backdrop of such a letter doing the rounds and grabbing media headlines is not a very pleasant one.
There is absolutely no harm in our sports minister being at Rio as long as he plays a constructive role, and in this case, it should be limited to facilitating and looking after the players' requirements.
In addition, there was a Commonwealth sports ministers meet just before the Olympics pledging to a common goal. It would be a happy occasion to see the minister leading from the front in taking care of the players' needs.
However, we did not get to hear any apologies when our hockey team could not participate in the inauguration because of the players' ill-fitting jerseys. In India, we all know the system wakes up when the minister is around. What takes the cake is not his presence at Rio but the unending appetite of clicking pictures with our Indian boys and girls, in some cases, even with his coterie tagged in the background.
Yes, we are very proud of them for they have managed to reach the Olympics. Let's now give them the space and attention to completely focus on the participation, especially given that you have the world's best sporting fraternity competing there.
A selfie with the minister would not bring them fame, their heart-wrenching stories of crossing numerous hurdles, including financial, official and political in some cases at home to manage a berth itself in Rio have already made them famous to the Indians back home.
A true photo opportunity should be when they are practising at home before and after the Olympics, to let India know that the sports minister would stand by the players, and address their infrastructure challenges, their poor living conditions in many of the SAI hostels, the apathy shown by the officials of their respective federations with even meeting the basic needs of the players is a long process of red tapism. We can surely await this selfie.