You don`t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala
One of the biggest problems facing news editors (and the leader writers the next day) is of determining which bit of news is genuinely significant. Last week showcased this dilemma in all its glory.
Four major events occurred last week. There was the expulsion of the 11 MPs from the Lok Sabha, the WTO Hong Kong ministerial conference, the scam over the MPLADS scheme and Sourav Ganguly.
Most newspapers commented on all four, which was fine because it was safe. But which of these was truly new? It was a toss-up between the expulsion and Ganguly, but in the end, if the criteria of being "truly new" has to be applied, the pride of place goes to Ganguly.
Why? Because while MPs have been expelled before, never before has the President of the Board of Cricket Control(BCCI) Sharad Pawar, openly intervened on behalf of player, that too under pressure from politicians in the state to which the player belongs.
With that long preamble let us see what the editorialists had to say. The Hindu chose to dwell at length on India defeating Sri Lanka so comprehensively. "India`s ascent to the number two spot in the ICC Test rankings comes on the back of a commanding performance against Sri Lanka."
It then glossed over the Ganguly affair. "Undistracted by the controversy over the inelegant inclusion-exclusion of Sourav Ganguly, the Indian team led by the upstanding Rahul Dravid kept its focus and head, displaying a new sense of purpose and the ability to translate that into tangible results." Fine.
Then it shot itself in the head. "The new BCCI regime`s policy of non-interference — leaving team selection to the selectors and cricket matters to experts — played its part in sobering down the atmosphere." Non-interference? Really? After Ganguly had tea with Sharad Pawar and was included in the team for Pakistan?
Very funny, wonly, this.
The Telegraph, on the other hand, has it in for Ganguly. Last week it had accused Ganguly of not knowing how to leave an outgoing ball alone. This week after he had tea with Pawar it was even more scathing. "The phrase playing cricket has come… to stand for propriety and correct behaviour. In this sense, it can be said without mincing words that Mr Sharad Pawar, the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, did not play cricket when he had a meeting with Sourav Ganguly on Tuesday."
"So far as the latter is concerned, Ganguly is just another player who has been discarded by the selection committee. He cannot be singled out for any kind of special treatment. Mr Pawar has set a very bad precedent. He has opened up the possibility of regional pressures being mounted upon him and on the selection committee whenever a player is dropped from the side."
The Indian Express was equally straightforward. "Sourav Ganguly`s re-induction in the Indian cricket team proves that… national politics has acquired a whole new dimension — the Left has upgraded its role from stalling policy to shaping cricket."
"Gurudas Dasgupta has emerged as the exemplar of this new political praxis. Who can forget the gentle words of persuasion he directed at Pawar. Who can`t surmise that those words had a powerful effect on the UPA constituent leader, sorry, we mean the BCCI chief."
It then suggested that the Left ensure that the Pakistani captain did not ask Shoaib Akhtar to bowl very fast to Ganguly. "The cricket CMP can lay down that Shoaib Akhtar can bowl at Ganguly only at a certain fraction of his natural pace."
The other major papers failed to see that the Ganguly episode was the real news of the week. They ignored it but Deccan Herald did comment, a la the Hindu, on the victory against Sri Lanka.
Silly fellows.
contact: Darius.Nakhoonwala@gmail.com