Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha, now the butt of criticism after her media interaction along with Joint Secretary/Acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey, is discovering that sports administration is no gravy train.
Everyone is slamming her for calling the protesting wrestlers ‘indisciplined’.
You may think I am splitting hair but a call for ‘some discipline’ should not be misconstrued as a charge of indiscipline against the wrestlers. Also, it may make some sense to understand the context in which Usha made a mention of discipline.
When a TV Reporter asked the IOA officials if they would reach out to the wrestlers for a dialogue, “because they are adamant ki jisko aana hai woh Jantar Mantar aake humse baat karein (anyone who wants to meet us can come to the protest site and talk to us), Usha said “Hamara Athletes Commission hain, thoda sa to discipline chahiye, hai na? (Some discipline is needed, isn’t it?) If they have a real problem, instead of coming to us, they have gone straightaway to the streets. It is not good for the sport… or the wrestlers…”
Usha would have been better advised than to come across as insensitive and far from empathetic to the wrestlers’ cause. But to launch a scathing personal attack on her is rather poor form, especially from those who kept insisting that sportspersons are the best suited to lead sports organisations.
There can be no doubt that Usha should have been restrained, empathetic and sensitive. But it is a good wager that many have not even heard what exactly she said, let alone the context in which she said it, and what the IOA Joint Secretary/Acting CEO said.
I have never been a fan of calls to elevate former athletes to positions of power without their serving time in understanding the nuances of human relations in sports governance. Hopefully, India and its thinktank will see reason in not rushing erstwhile stars to leadership roles. Simply stated, running organisations is a different ball game to playing sport.
For whatever it is worth, here’s a transcript of the media interaction.
Reporter: What is the action taken in the wrestlers’ complaint?
PT Usha: You will get the details in a press release. But actually, what I feel… our feeling is that for sexual harassment and all those things IOA is having an Athletes’ Commission. Instead of going to the streets and doing all those things, they could have come to us earlier. But they have not at all come to IOA. Still the Government suggested us to form an ad hoc committee and we have named two (members), Bhupinder Singh Bajwa and Suma Shirur.
Reporter: What is the status of the IOA committee inquiring into the complaints by the wrestlers?
Kalyan Chaubey: Things are going on. We are told that the Committee has got a list of witnesses and it will invite the witnesses to come (and meet the commission).
Reporter: Will the (ad hoc) Committee start functioning from today?
Kalyan Chaubey: As Dr. PT Usha, President of IOA, has already said, we have formed a two-member committee. Dr Bajwa will represent the IOA Executive in the committee and Suma Shirur, who is a female athlete and a Sportsperson of Merit, will be in charge of the WFI day to day activity as the ad hoc committee. It is important that sport should not be affected, sportspersons should not be affected and day to day administration should not be affected.
Also, with (a view to complete) the elections within 45 days, we have also discussed the names of a few retired judges of High Courts. One of them will join the two members and make it a three-member ad hoc committee. The Judge will guide the committee. Under the Presidentship of Dr PT Usha, IOA is an athlete-friendly body, it should be for the athletes… for the players…
Reporter: Will you reach out to the wrestlers for a dialogue, because they are adamant ki jisko aana hai woh Jantar Mantar aake humse baat karein (anyone who wants to meet us can come to the protest site and talk to us)…
PT Usha: Hamara Athletes Commission hain, thoda sa to discipline chahiye, hai na? (Some discipline is needed, isn’t it?) If they have a real problem, instead of coming to us, they have gone straightaway to the streets. It is not good for the sport… or the wrestlers…
Reporter: Ma’am, since the wrestlers did not get a report by the promised deadline, they are expressing their anger…
Reporter: Do you think the wrestlers are setting the wrong precent for all sportspersons?
PT Usha: I have already told. We are having everything like the Athletes Commission. Whatever feelings they have, they could have come to us. And then we could have solved it. If we had not solved, they have anywhere else. Instead of that, they have gone straightaway to the streets. It is not good for sports, it is not at all good for the sport. We don’t want to make any problem for sportspeople. And we want our athletes to participate in the Asian Games. For that only, we have already formed the ad hoc committee.
Reporter: What has come to you so far, prima facie does it look like there is any serious complaint as such?
Kalyan Chaubey: Only the (Mary Kom) committee can say that. We are yet to get a report from the committee, but what Dr. PT Usha would like to say again and again that this kind of agitation is not good for the country’s image. India today is the fifth largest economy in the world. India is also having a very good reputation globally. Sport is a medium where you can reach so easily across the globe and this negative publicity is not good for the country…
PT Usha: Not good for the country…
Kalyan Chaubey: …not just for the sports or the sportspersons of Wrestling.
Reporter: The wrestlers are feeling let down by the Government and let down by everyone important and feeling betrayed in the last three months…
Kalyan Chaubey: We had a long meeting today. I am sure you are also aware that we started at noon, and it is 4-30 p.m. now. We discussed with a thorough feeling towards the wrestlers and the athlete’s emotions. We want to be with the athletes, not only the wrestlers but also any athlete who has represented the country, but under the rules, regulations and law of the land.
Reporter: The Oversight Committee report is still being examined (by the Ministry) and has not been made public. And the IOA’s seven-member committee is also probing the matter. The wrestlers have started the agitation on the premise that Brij Bhushan has been given a clean chit after none of the allegations have been proved against him. Do you think they should have actually waited for these two committees to submit their reports, conclude their probes and then, if they had any grievances, should have come to the agitation?
Kalyan Chubey: We can say that our committee which has been constituted by Dr PT Usha under the chairpersonship of Mary Kom is a very good committee with dependable and renowned individuals. So if we can have a little patience – because this is a serious allegation and we cannot make a decision in haste – and see what is coming out of the committee, we will be in a position to comment anything. But right now, we discussed on the day to day administration which will be taken care by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa and Suma Shirur as part of the ad committee formed by the executive council of the Indian Olympic Association.
Reporter: Does the IOA Constitution allow the formation of an ad hoc committee to run the affairs of a National Sports Federation? The Constitution repeatedly stresses the need for independence and autonomy of National Sports Federations.
Kalyan Chaubey: There are exceptions on case to case basis. You know the Asian Games is very near. Also the National Games in Goa. This is taken in the interest of the athletes and of the sport. If IOA intervention can help a sport or sportspersons, it will be India’s interest.
Here’s an audio file of the interaction.
