Lalit Modi’s kiss of death
If ever proof was needed of the importance of Lalit Kumar Modi, the self-exiled creator and former master and commander of the Indian Premier League (IPL), it is this: sitting 4,000 miles away in London’s Sloane Street, he can still cause a stir in the Indian Parliament. And not just any stir; one that is being described as potentially the first public scandal involving the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Though Lalit Modi may be a persona non grata in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for his inability to re-enter the Board’s cosy club of administrators through the Rajasthan Cricket Board, he continues to hang over Indian cricket like the Sword of Damocles.
For Modi has so many connections, and such an ability to secure favours from politicians stretching from Whitehall to Raisina Hill, that he remains forever in the periphery of our consciousness, plotting another assault on our senses. Just when you think he’s done and dusted, his face appears in our morning newspapers again.
Love him or loathe him, Lalit Modi had created an IPL that had glamour, spunk, sex appeal, chutzpah, and a certain X-factor that he, himself, brought to the table. It also had his friends and family – from the part-owner of the Rajasthan franchise Suresh Chellaram, who is his brother-in-law, to the part-owner of the Chandigarh franchise Gaurav Burman, who is his son-in-law. But Modi’s jet-setting life attracted attention, not just from cricketers and fans, but also from the income-tax department and the Enforcement Directorate. Sought for questioning in a number of cases pertaining to IPL misappropriations, Modi went to London on holiday in 2010, and just never returned. Though his passport was revoked and a blue-collar notice issued against him, restricting his ability to roam the world freely, no serious efforts were ever made to get him into an interrogation room. The government and the Board seemed happy enough that he was out of their hair.
But once foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and British member of Parliament (MP) Keith Vaz effectively lifted the travel ban last year, and then his passport was reinstated by court, Modi was back on the move, biding his time until it was fine to return home. He is now in Ibiza one day, and in Montenegro the next. He is sometimes photographed with Paris Hilton and sometimes with Naomi Campbell.
What is remarkable, however, is how associating with Lalit Modi has proven to be the kiss of death for many an influential person over the last decade. One of the principal reasons for Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhare Raje’s loss in the 2008 Assembly elections was supposedly her links with Lalit Modi, who had virtually moved to Jaipur during her first tenure and secured entry into the BCCI through a change of regulations by the state government that allowed him to take over Rajasthan cricket. Two years later, his Twitter spat with Shashi Tharoor over the ownership of the Kochi IPL franchise cost the then minister of state for external affairs his job. And now, Swaraj finds herself in the dock, having to defend herself from allegations that, instead of asking for Lalit Modi’s repatriation for questioning, she did him an undue favour by lifting his travel restrictions owing to family ties.
Through all of this, Lalit Modi saunters on merrily, as if unaware of the casualties left in the wake. He keeps tweeting, talking, and making threats that he will "tell-all". But, fair warning, today he’s telling on someone else, tomorrow he could tell on you. So enjoy the Lalit Modi tamasha, but engage with it at your own risk.