Will Lalit Modi resign today?
The Indian media are reporting[1] that Lalit Modi will resign his position as IPL Chairman today after his part in the financial scandal that has cost an Indian minister his job and led to a full investigation of IPL finances by Indian tax authorities.
Allegations against Modi of financial and betting irregularities[2], whilst unproven (according to the small Lawyer in my brain, other parts of my brain say “hell, we all thought it long ago”), appear to have been the final nail in the coffin after he previously caused a storm by revealing links to Indian goverment minister Shashi Tharoor and the new Koshi IPL franchise. BCCI sources were quoted[3] as being prepared to force Modi out if he is not willing to resign his position:
Modi’s exit is a foregone conclusion. The BCCI members are extremely unhappy in the manner in which he brought about this controversy. Never in the history of BCCI has the Income Tax sleuths raided the offices. It has not only tarnished the image of the Board but has also sullied the IPL brand.
What does this mean for the Indian Premier League? From an English viewpoint it is easy to imagine the end of the IPL, but that would be a naive conclusion to jump to. Whilst Modi has been instrumental in it’s rapid growth, and is the very visible frontman, the BCCI will want to defend it’s main cash-cow for all it is worth.
A new chairman could mean changes in the way the IPL is presented to the world, and the likes of the ECB and English counties will hope for a softening of the IPL’s dismissive attitude towards the rest of the world’s domestic cricket. Whether or not this is the case or just wishful thinking remains to be seen.
Additionally we will have to await the results of the Indian authorities investigation. A confirmation from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will have the BCCI desparately hoping that the allegations against Modi, including that he had a personal stake in some of the IPL teams, are false:
I can assure you that all aspects of IPL will be probed, inclusive of the sources of funding, how these funds were routed and invested
So it likely get a lot worse for both Modi and the BCCI, who are also having to deal with the fallout from the bomb blasts in Bangalore. The PCA has alleged that players were pressured into playing the match4, which was due to start shortly after the two devices exploded.
Power politics
All of this appears on the surface to be a crack-down on corruption, but actually it is part of a wider political power-play. Many of the main players involved also hold public office in India – former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar, for instance, is now an agriculture minister.
This isn’t a political blog, and so I won’t delve too deeply into that aspect of the affair, but it is not hard to imagine Modi being hung out to dry while the rest cover their backs. So when we start hearing all about how naughty Lalit has been, and the press start naming the whole thing “Modi-gate” or something equally as dim, remember that it’s just the tip of the iceberg. As Prempanicker points out on his blog[5]:
Corruption is good, from a realpolitik point of view; proof of corruption is even better since it gives governments a means to mould otherwise intractable clay to their own purposes.
There won’t be many around the world, and especially in England, where Modi represents all that is anathema to cricket’s traditions, who will be shedding tears. Modi does still have supporters within the BCCI, but that seems unlikely to save him.
Footnotes
[1] :: Source – IBN Live
[2] :: Source – Daily Telegraph
[3] :: Source – Times of India
[4] :: Source – Times of India
[5] :: Source – PremPanicker
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