New Delhi:
Ajay Maken is a man on a mission. And in his all-out effort as Sports Minister to make sports bodies in the country transparent and accountable he's losing some powerful friends.
A Minister vs Ministers situation is playing out in public view as acerbic words are exchanged.
On Tuesday, the Union Cabinet rejected Mr Maken's new Sports Bill, with some heavyweight ministers who double as sports administrators exerting pressure to ensure that some of the provisions did not become law. Mr Maken has been tasked with drafting a new bill that is more acceptable to his colleagues - they suggest the current version impinges too far upon the autonomy that sports bodies may be entitled to.
Mr Maken has retorted, publicly: "I am enthused by public support...I will fight for my bill."
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the Sports Minister has also challenged, "If the BCCI puts accounting in its balance sheets, why are they scared of RTI?" The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), one of the world's richest sports organisations, has resisted attempts at regulation because it is not funded by the government. Making it accountable under the Right to Information Act (RTI) would allow public access to its financial transactions.
The move to bring BCCI under RTI and a provision that those who head sports federations must not be older than 70, are the twin highlights of Mr Maken's Sports Bill 2011 that have upset not just the cricket board, but some of the most senior ministers in the Cabinet.
They are not amused and they will have Mr Maken know that. A common peeve across is that the Sports Minister is openly talking about the Cabinet meeting. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said, "How can you expect us to reveal anything about Cabinet meeting, we take an oath of secrecy."
Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah, known to not mince his words, said, "Should a minister give TV interviews on what happened in the Cabinet? I won't answer on what happened in the Cabinet." Mr Abdullah had just emerged from a meeting with Mr Pawar.
Congress minister of state Rajiv Shukla was even less charitable when he said about fellow Congressman Mr Maken, "He doesn't know anything, that is the problem." Speaking on NDTV's show Left Right and Centre, Mr Shukla also said the BCCI "Is praised across the world...so why is Mr Maken interfering?"
Mr Pawar, Mr Abdullah and Mr Shukla are all ministers who are also leaders of sports bodies - Sharad Pawar is the president of the ICC, Farooq Abdullah is president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association and Rajeev Shukla is a BCCI vice-president. There are others in the council of ministers - like Praful Patel, CP Joshi and Vilasrao Deshmukh. These ministers have categorically stated that there is no conflict of interest in their political and sporty roles.
For good reason, the move to bar people beyond 70 years from holding such positions has some of these powerful ministers frowning - Sharad Pawar is 71, Farooq Abdullah is 73, Vilasrao Deshmukh is 66.
Though Mr Abdullah, who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, allegedly told the Cabinet that while he's 73, he's far fitter than some younger ministers.
Mr Pawar, who has served in the past as the chief of India's cricket board, was reportedly so upset with the Sports Bill that he threatened to file a complaint with UPA President Sonia Gandhi if the Cabinet signed off the draft that was circulated before it on Tuesday night.
Mr Maken is unfazed by his unpopularity in high places. He's confident that if such a bill had been enacted earlier, the Commonwealth Games would not have been seeped in the sort of turgid corruption that made international headlines. Suresh Kalmadi, who chaired the Organizing Committee for the Games, is now in jail; so are many of his aides. They have been accused of hiring firms who quoted the most expensive rates for equipment and services, allegedly earning handsome kickbacks in return.
He has also pointed to allegations of financial transgressions in the blockbuster domestic T20 tournament - the Indian Premier League (IPL). The IPL is currently being investigated by multiple agencies and a parliamentary committee for tax evasion and foreign exchange violations. "IPL and cricket events get tax and customs exemptions," Mr Maken pointed out. "That is public money. We have a right as people to know where all the IPL funds are coming from."