New Delhi: The former Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi has been often described as a person who attacks his enemies and exposes his friends. As the current controversy unfolds, three elements — the politics of the Board for Control of Cricket in India, the internal dynamics within the ruling BJP, and the bitter competition for eyeballs in the electronic media are literally adding fuel to the fire.
Living up to his reputation, Lalit Modi having acquired the nick name ‘Chhote Modi’ in this saga, has truly exposed his friends — the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and the Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhararaje Scindia. The two persons who stood by him in his times of crisis have been virtually indicted by him without any element of doubt. Now any denials by them about their role in assisting him would not carry any weight.
True to his reputation and character, ‘Chhote Modi’ has also exposed his friends in the previous UPA government — Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel and Rajiv Shukla (all former ministers). It is the BCCI politics that is at the root of Chhote Modi’s woes. It is also not a coincidence that union finance minister Arun Jaitley’s equation with ‘Chhote Modi’ and his benefactor Swaraj is of the same nature. So, it is a combo of BCCI rivalry and the BJP’s internal political dynamics that finds Jaitley on the one side and Swaraj with Chhote Modi on the other.
Thus Jaitley defends Swaraj’s actions as ‘bonafide’ but labels Chhote Modi as a ‘wanted’ man. Signifying the cricketing divide, Kirti Azad, another BJP MP and former test cricketer, has already added his ‘asteen ke saanp’ bit to the controversy.
Coupled with this mix of politics and cricket is the intense media rivalry to claim leadership in the contest of eyeballs for 24×7 news with the social media adding spice to very development, little or small.
Amidst all these developments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen his predecessor Manmohan Singh’s favourite weapon — silence — for the time being in this unfolding saga. With the internal Yoga Day round the corner, this has prompted the Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala to quip: ‘‘The prime minister is in maun yoga posture.”
