The Rajasthan Equestrian Association has sought the intervention of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), specifically asking for an independent audit/inquiry into the administration and function of Equestrian Federation of India. It has suggested that if the audit finds substantial breach of the Olympic Charter and the FEI Statutes, EFI should be asked to take remedial steps.
Things would never have come to such a pass had the EFI paid attention to the growing unrest within the State Equestrian Associations. It has continued to treat them as second-class citizens, if not worse. Concerned that the reins would go out of their hands, successive EFI officials have made no attempt to reach out to the State Associations.
With there being no visible attempt by the EFI to galvanise the State Associations, status quo – and, to a large extent, anarchy – has been the order of the day for the longest time. How else can you explain the fact that the Federation has not put up a case before the Ministry to at least partially fund eventing ace Fouaad Mirza’s preparations for the Olympic Games.
Equestrian Federation of India officials remain unmoved by any of the developments, smug in the belief that neither the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports nor the Indian Olympic Association will initiate any further action against the Federation. They have made merry, drawing salaries from the Army and using facilities at the Army’s expense.
The bravado of the EFI officials in cocking a snook at the Ministry and IOA has its roots in the fact that despite not sending respective observers to the EFI elections held in September last, the two institutions continue to recognise the Federation. Clearly, the EFI mandarins have treated the threats by the Ministry and IOA as mere saber-rattling.
The Ministry wrote to EFI in January 2017 withholding annual recognition, advising it to amend its constitution and become compliant with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011. However, acting on EFI representations in April and May that year, the then Minister approved an extension of recognition till December 31 that year and insisting on Code compliance by that time.
Then on February 1, 2019, the Ministry wrote yet again to EFI that its annual recognition was subject to Code compliance by August 3, failing which the recognition would be reviewed and action taken as per extant guidelines. Yet, four months after that deadline, the Ministry extended recognition till March 31, 2020, agreeing with EFI argument that it was governing a peculiar sport.
Last year, IOA downgraded EFI from a Full Member to Affiliate member status with no voting rights. Its Secretary-General wrote to EFI asking for elections not to be held since the constitution allowed individuals and clubs to be part of the electoral college. “If EFI proceeds with the election and appointments based on current norms, it would be liable to further sanctions,” he wrote.
EFI did go ahead with the elections and the IOA Secretary-General’s threat of ‘further sanctions’ remains on paper. Worse, like the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the IOA has also ignored the pleas of the State Equestrian Associations to intervene and set the EFI house in order. It is such apathy to matters of governance that lets EFI officials rule the roost.
After Lt. Gen. MS Wadlia (Retd.) and Gen. OP Malhotra, who rose to be Chief of Army Staff during his tenure in the Federation, each EFI President has been the Quartermaster General. And, for the last 20 years, the EFI Secretary has hailed from the Army Services Corps. Barring seven years when officials from the Remount Veterinary Corps held that post, ASC has had a firm grip.
All you need to do is look up the EFI Executive Committee minutes to see that each time the Army gets a new Quartermaster General, he is first granted EFI membership and within minutes elevated as its President. It is the fastest and easiest entry to the top echelons of a National Sports Federation, given that others have to do the hard yards before assuming an NSF President’s position.
Curiously, when he retires from his position as Quartermaster General of the Army, he ceases to be EFI President as well. That indicates how the position of the National Sports Federation, governing equestrian sport, is treated as an extension of his position in the Army. It is an unwritten code that the EFI follows.
Take a look at the following two pages from an EFI publication, The Golden Years of Equestrian Sports in India 1967-2018. They will tell you a story of their own, one of the EFI President’s baton being handed over from one Quartermaster General to another and of the Secretary’s post being handed over from one official of the Army Service Corps as if they are got in inheritance.
It is this peculiar trait of EFI that has made the Rajasthan Equestrian Association knock at the FEI doors to try and bring a true sense of order in which the sport is governed in the country. At a time when civilians have surged past the establishment in terms of owning warm bloods and competing internationally, EFI is happy to be stuck in a time-warp. And that needs to change.
It has been over a decade of Rajasthan Equestrian Association trying to make the EFI understand the State association issues, the EFI does no care as thy have the full support of the MYAS.