Is IPL a big price?

The debate whether the upcoming 2nd season of IPL should be held or not has dominated both the electronic and print media over the last few weeks. Law abiding, tax-paying citizens are disappointed that they are losing out on some very wholesome entertainment due to ‘dirty’ politicians (there’s such a negative connotation associated with the word these days that Oxford may soon include ‘use with care, some people find it offensive’ in its definition). Someone I was talking to recently raised the question, “Is India so incapable of keeping itself secure?” This reminded me of an incident that happened during my internship in Freiburg, Germany last summer.

I was having a discussion about crime rates in Mumbai and other Indian cities with a German friend and I happened to mention the contribution of the encounter specialists in the Mumbai police department towards wiping the city off dangerous criminals. He was astonished to hear this and also gave me a mini lecture on humanity, justice and the right of all human beings to a fair trial. All the while I listened silently but not for a lack of retort. A reply on the lines of “how could a man who had lived in a city where ‘cycle theft’ is the most common crime, ever comprehend the measures necessary to provide security in a country where businessmen getting murdered, women getting raped and cop and army convoys being ambushed were not that rare occurrences?” would have clearly exposed his narrow outlook in accessing the morality of the ‘killer cops’. But I couldn’t come to terms with honestly accepting these ghastly shortcomings of my country in front of a foreigner.

Many of those, advocating vociferously in favor of the IPL, suffer from the same predicament. For all of our economic and technological progress, we still are a country where bombs explode in a major city once every couple of years and whose neighbors derive more pleasure by causing her trouble than securing their own progress. Mind you, I would love it if we had the IPL, not so much because I am an ardent T20 fan but because it would be a matter of pride that we are able to carry on with our normal lives at a time when armed militia are flouting the most basic human rights just a few hundred kilometers from our borders. The point is our security forces are not confident enough to handle the load of the elections and such a big international sporting event together. And postponing or canceling it is a small price to pay in return for the assurance of fair violence-free elections.