Modi saab, what happened to your vion (vision)?

Lalit Kumar Modi has transformed Indian Cricket into a money-making machine. This machine would continue to make money as long as the home team wins, or atleast be competitive. That is not what we are witnessing in Sri Lanka since July 23, 2008. The disgraceful display of incompetence that the Indian Test Team has shown is beyond comprehension. It is not only the pathetic performance of our fast-aging players, it is the sheer stupidity of the selection board of BCCI. Either they are brain dead or are typical Indian Babus who are bribed to their eye balls. What else would justify such a selection? There are rumors that Sachin Tendulkar might join Bollywood. I would suggest he should find some role in his films for Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Every time they screw up, their expressions are worth watching. I would also urge our patriotic big-wigs of Bollywood to find suitable roles for Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan. Sourav Ganguly is not bad-looking either.

Lalit Modi, Vice President of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), was born on November 29, 1963 in New Delhi, India. He is the son of KK Modi (Krishan Kumar Modi), the eldest son of Late Rai Bahadur Gujarmal Modi (Founder of the Modi Group). Lalit Modi attended Duke University in North Carolina for a degree in management during 1980s, but had to depart in a haste in the wake of charges of drug abuse. He came back to India and worked for Estee Lauder. He soon started working for Godfrey Phillips, a Modi Enterprise. Lalit Modi’s forays into Indian cricket began with the RCA (Rajasthan Cricket Association). The Rungta Family ruled RCA as their own fiefdom and had a powerful grip over the BCCI. Modi, with the help of Punjab’s Inderjit Singh Bindra, managed to overthrow the Rungtas from the BCCI, via the courts. He emerged as a new power broker and it was here that one could see the personality of Lalit Modi. There was a new dawn over the BCCI horizon.

The next step came in late November, 2005 when anti-Dalmiya forces rallied around for what would turn out to be the most acrimonious BCCI board election in decades. Jagmohan Dalmiya (erstwhile President of BCCI) was defeated and Sharad Pawar (Union Agriculture Minister) was installed as the new President of the Board of Control for cricket in India and Lalit Modi emerged, grinning triumphantly, as one of the youngest-ever BCCI vice-presidents. Since then, BCCI has emerged as the richest administrative body in the Indian sports arena and is in the process of overtaking England’s Cricket Board. BCCI was established in 1929.

The legacy and stature of Somnath Chatterjee…

The current Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, has made history for his country and in a strange way, for his party. Chatterjee, a veteran of the Communist party of India-Marxist since 1968, placed his duty towards his country before his party’s ‘Fatwa’. He refused to resign his position as Speaker of the House before the no-confidence vote on July 22, 2008, against the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) led government. This might be the first time in the history of free India that a communist chose his country before his party. Somnath Chatterjee has not only earned the gratitude of the people of India but he has made a contribution to the ranks of communists in India. I wonder if Prakash Karat and his wife Brinda Karat have the brains to understand that their personal ego has destroyed their party and whatever little support they enjoyed in some parts of India.

Somnath Chatterjee was born in Tezpur, Assam on July 25, 1929. He will be 79 years old tomorrow. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 as an independent, supported by the CPI (M). Somnath is the son of Nirmal Chandra Chatterjee, the former president of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, a forerunner of today’s BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Nirmal Chatterjee left Hindu Mahasabha to join the politics of the left parties. Somnath Chatterjee followed in his father’s footsteps and joined active politics in 1968. He became a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) that year. This veteran communist leader was expelled from the party on July 23, 2008 after 40 years of loyal and dedicated leadership. Somnath Chatterjee was unanimously elected Speaker of 14th Lok Sabha on June 4, 2004. This was the first time in Indian Parliament’s history that a Left Party member became the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Chatterjee received a standing ovation.