The Hockey India elections that are (were) to be held tomorrow are in trouble. The court has asked the government to stay away from the elections as it is a private body. It also said that only Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) is the only recognized body to run the sport.The court also said, Hockey India must know that the elections will be conducted only when the confusion of its status is cleared. The court had earlier given an order in favor of the de-recognized IHF, by telling that the federation cannot be dismissed due to performance of the team in the tournament and reinstated IHF. But Hockey India still remained as the administrative body of sports.
Meaningless kiss?
The government also played a major role in this. They did not pay heed to the High Court ruling and went ahead with Hockey India. It is also sending an observer to look over the elections.In my opinion, the Government is making mockery of itself. From the time Hockey India was formed, Suresh Kalmadi and MOS have not given hockey what it deserves: justice. They de-recognized IHF on grounds of the performance of the team in the Olympic Qualifiers and the Jyothikumaran issue. Since when organizations have been dissolved due to problem created by one man. And if the India team did not qualify, the blame belongs to the players too.
If government is so engrossed with hockey, why were the elections were not held earlier?
FIH had given many deadlines to the board, and yet it was allowed to function. The last deadline that was given was of May 31, but they were unable to hold elections. They are now going to hold elections after two months of the last deadline. While the court has asked to put a stop to it.
The Government should have taken care about it when the court came out with the decision. They should have tried to solve the problem. But the government did not think about that. Hockey India has been unprofessional and much more so than IHF.
The Indian government is just wasting the country’s resources while the national game is plunging to all time lows. It is said that they received Rs. 13 crore from the government, but they did not even pay the salary to the players.
Change in the guard might help Indian hockey, but it is unsure that the court will allow it or not. Whether the elections will take place or not. We can only sit and hope for the betterment of the game, till the goons leave hockey ?.
