India: Corruption Loses, Suresh Kalmadi Ousted From AAA!

If you are following the political turmoil basically over the issue of corruption in India for the last two years rather seriously you cannot help but suffer from frequent spells of pessimism. You tend to feel that in 99.9 percent of cases corruption finally emerges victorious thanks primarily to the politics of corruption fought so shamelessly and without any sort of ideologies. So powerful are the lobbies of vested interests, so powerful are the people in power, so powerful are the chains of mutual interests and so toothless and ineffectual are the legal and judicial systems that the corrupt finally escape even after being charged or jailed or whatever. As you can righteously feel pessimistic in the recent IPL Spot Fixing Scandal after all the big stories of corruption almost every accused is currently out on bail and things do not at all augur well for justice being done in near future. The premier investigative agencies pursuing cases howsoever diligently are always targeted for allegedly favoring particular ‘party’ individuals or groups or whatever. Nobody cares for the truth anyway. But today, we witness a definitive case of corruption losing and the truth prevailing.

Suresh Kalmadi, the main accused of Delhi Commonwealth Games-2010 corruption case, continued to pull the ‘mutual’ power strings to remain in contention and power even after being jailed for ten months. The brazen corruption kingpin wanted to attend the London Olympics as the President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) right after coming out of jail on bail. One court even allowed him to do so, but fortunately one higher court barred him citing national embarrassment. Banking on the ‘mutually corrupt benefit scheme’ and on his ever loyal ‘partners-in-corruption’ Kalmadi still did not want to lose his home-ground Pune in Maharashtra seeking re-election as the President of the Asian Athletic Association (AAA) for the fourth time in view of the 20^th Asian Athletic Championship starting in Pune from 2^nd July, 2013. Kalmadi might have drawn tremendous inspiration too from N Srinivason, the classic case of the adamantly corrupt.

But today, in the AAA poll held in Pune Suresh Kalmadi lost by 18 votes to 20 votes and was ousted from the AAA. The Athletic Championship that got overshadowed and dampened by the Kalmadi factor could finally start in full glory. Indian sports legends who have been lambasting Kalmadi in helpless rage for his shameless quest for power and position now welcome the verdict with open and free hearts.

At least in one case Corruption loses in India. We must hail this event as very significant and possibly as the catalyst for cleansing our great country of corruption—be it in the realm of sports or anywhere.