The Himachal Pradesh CPM has demanded a thorough inquiry into the IPL by a sitting judge of the High Court so that the hard facts are exposed in front of the people. Party senior leader and Deputy Mayor Shimla MC, Tikender Singh Panwar, in his press communiqué reiterated its demand of the resignation of N Srinivasan the chairperson of the BCCI.
He said that the recent revelations made about the connections that he has with match fixers and bookies should not allow him to stay in his office for a minute. The party has asked the BJP as well, to clear its stand on the IPL as three important state cricket associations are led by its leaders namely the Delhi by Arun Jaitley, Gujarat by Narendra Modi and Himachal by Anurag Thakur. There seems calm in between both the BJP and the Congress as far as the IPL malaise is concerned. There also seems to be a strong connection in between the BCCI, the state cricket associations and the IPL. It is because of this reason, the CPM has stated, that both the BJP and Congress are in unison and do not criticise each other in the IPL controversy.
Panwar said that Rajiv Shukla the Union minister of Congress party and an important functionary of the BCCI and the IPL was awarded a doctorate degree by the HPU during the BJP regime. There is unanimity in both the Congress and the BJP over the IPL that has become one of the important elements of commerce where the players act as puppets pulled by their strings by the owners of the teams and other bookies. It is surprising, the CPM has noted, that the chairperson of the BCCI too owns a team and the one time relaxation was allowed by the BCCI to have such an opportunity. It breeds a culture where the rules are so framed that it happens that the ‘rules are such what I want it to be.’
The CPM has also asked the state government to immediately act tough on the HPCA and get back its due from them for the security being provided for the IPL matches held in the past. Since IPL is widely acknowledged as the largest source of entertainment event, entertainment tax should be levied and the money generated should be brought into the public exchequer.
The party has further stated, proper screening of the IPL personnel should be done and unethical and illegal practices should be checked. The party has asked for the acquisition of the land given to the HPCA for the construction of the Five star hotel as it is the community land that cannot be parted even for community purpose what to talk about the commercial ventures like above. The party has called upon its units to hold protest demonstrations throughout the state and expose the nexus in between the BJP and the Congress for befooling the people of the country in the name of cricket.
