Narendra Modi is a megalomaniac and a facist!
If you have not been living under the rock for last 8 years, you would have heard this almost every other minute on a daily basis. The leftist-Islamist ecosystem has been trying its best to convince Modi supporters and voters that Modi is a megalomaniac so much so that they have been calling every one Bhakt who does not hate him.
A bhakt is someone who believes in the divinity and believes that the deity/person is capable of performing miracles which is beyond the capability of an ordinary man. Narendra Modi has already shown us many such miracles, be it ardent Iftaar-waadis chanting “Chandi Path”, or opposers of Ram Mandir offering free darshan to all through taxpayers’ money, or those who divided India geographically/linguistically/intellectually are taking out marches to unite the nation. Many such miracles have made many people behave as Bhakt for such feats were unthinkable for an average Hindu before 2014. So, as a Bhakt I want to request for one more miracle which I believe only he can make come true.
The Dream!
The 2023 50-over cricket world cup is going to be held in India at around October-November. Pakistan has already threatened India that if India decides to not to travel to Pakistan for Asia cup to be held before the world cup then they would consider boycotting the world cup. Irrespective of Pakistan’s decision, what India should do is to deny Pakistan team the entry in India and shift all their matches to a neighbouring country, let’s say, Sri Lanka. If they want to participate in the world cup then they would have to play all their matches in Sri Lanka, otherwise dont participate in the mega event at all.
There it is. Since I am not from the Leftist-Islamist ilk, I would not talk about something for the sake of it but would like to propose the means to achieve it. This is a difference between a Bhakt and a ‘ist’ person which I would like to maintain. So lets talk about how can this dream be achieved.
Take the first step!
Its almost a year before the mega event so its the right time to take the first step especially given the wind of cricket flowing in the country due to T20 world cup. A small party should raise the demand that they will not allow the Pakistan to visit India during 2023 world cup. Issue threats of disrupting the matches, raise the Nationalist tempers, etc etc. Shiv Sena, now Shinde Sena, or MNS would be the perfect candidate to take this issue up due to their history with the subject. Uddhav Sena can also take the lead if they want to revive their old Hindutava image. Given the Nationalist fervour going on for last few years, nobody would openly oppose this demand specially considering the 2024 general elections. In fact, it can become a very big poll plank for the BJP and other Hindutava parties. Once the temperatures are raised, ask few of your state governments like Maharashtra, UP, Gujarat, Assam, etc to declare publicly that they dont want BCCI to schedule any Pakistan matches in their state. This would really make it a big national issue.
Get BCCI onboard
Although BCCI politics is slowly tilting towards BJP, there are many state associations and power centres which are inimical to them so they would need to make sure entire BCCI get behind on this plan after all they would be the foot soldiers to achieve this diplomatic blow. Most of the inimical power centres would refrain from coming out openly but would use ex-cricketers to peddle the age-old narrative of not mixing sports and politics.
This argument can be easily countered by arguing that Pakistan has already breached this red line when Mohammad Rizwan read Namaz on the field after beating the Indian team; when Waqar Younis claimed it to be a beautiful sight; when they talked about breaking of ‘Kufr’ after they beat India for the first time in the world cup; when almost all their ex-cricketers have claimed that they tried converting Indian and other Nationality cricketers to Islam; when their ex-cricketers talk about Kashmir fairly regularly. Social Media is already in uproar against these things.
They will tear apart any one who would try to take a principle stand of not mixing politics, cricket and religion. If those power centres inimical to BJP try to raise other obstacles, they can be sorted out using the carrot-and-stick approach of offering incentives like more matches, or more revenues, or by threatening to reduce the matches, etc.
How to get ICC onboard
The major step would be to get ICC and cricket board members on your side. This is going to be difficult but can be done. First, the ICC chairmanship is going to change soon and its almost given that a BCCI choice will get the position. Most of the member boards would be easy to convince specially the associate and small members like Netherlands, Scotland, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, etc by promising their players more exposure to IPL or by promising more matches with the Indian team (this can easily be promised as India can field 3 teams of International standard at the same time so why not send teams to multiple countries at the same time). India will have to convince 3 big boards – England, Australia and South Africa.
South Africa would be easy given the relations between the two boards, the economic situation they are in and their new T20 league, which they are looking as their saviour, being almost completely owned by Indian companies. Australia would be a little tricky but given the good relations between the two governments, CA can be arm twisted to agree to this plan. Toughest cookie to crack would be England. A little help from Rishi Sunak can seal the deal which India can get by leveraging FTA deal between the two countries.
A lot of politics and power game will have to played but Mota bhai would have no problem with that. He can also take this as a teaching moment for the junior! ICC, on its part, cannot imagine holding a world cup without India given almost 90% of the revenue is because of the Indian team. They cannot threaten to take away the world cup from India. India can offer a middle path by calling this world cup as India, Sri Lanka joint event and asking Pakistan to play all its matches in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka would happily support the idea because of the amount of revenue it would bring. This would seem a reasonable compromise for the ICC specially coming from the country that generates 90% of its revenue.
Pakistan and PCB
Pakistan would definitely not keep quiet amid all this. Not just because of the loss of reputation but also because Cricket is one of last remaining prides for the common Pakistani citizens. All other institutions have been decimated be it their hockey team, Army, judiciary, education, etc. It would not be an overstatement if this could prove to be the last nail in the coffin before Pakistan explodes internally. So Pakistan would fight tooth and nail to thwart any such attempt by the Indian side. So how would India manage the noise raised by the Pakistan which they are very good at.
First, PCB cannot do much. They have zero power in the ICC. Its chief, Rameez Raza, is on record to say that PCB essentially runs by the money generated by the Indian team through ICC. Pakistan team does not have any mega star like yesteryears and nobody is going to miss seeing Babar Azam or Shaheen Afridi, no matter how much Pakistanis try to compare them with Kohli or Bumrah. So PCB is not a threat.
Second, the Pakistan govt or rather the Pakistan establishment would get involved directly. They would plead to their western masters about Democracy, world order, sportsmanship, morality, etc etc; basically about everything under the sun to shake their conscience. Their biggest target would be US and UK. Indian diplomacy headed by Dr. Jaishankar should be able to counter any such plan by the Pakistan govt. Nobody would be interested in upsetting India over cricket given the economic situation in most of these countries. But India can do more!
India should engage with Imran Khan and his party (although he would not need any reason to take up this issue) to raise the political temperature in Pakistan using this issue. Given Imran Khan’s popularity and his background of cricket, he would see this as an issue which can topple the existing government and get him back to power.
So he would be chuffed about Pakistan government not being able to stop this proposal from coming to fruition. But if there is an iota of doubt in his mind, India should step in to seal the deal. Imran Khan is akin to Arvind Kejriwal who would not think twice before selling his country if it means that he can get back to power. So it would not be difficult to bring him onboard. He can make sure that Pakistan does not boycott the world cup despite being humiliated so much.
Manage Local Politics
Although there would be no major backlash against the government’s decision to play politics on this topic but there would be plenty of noise from the perpetual ‘Andolanjeevis’ or by the ‘Aman ki Asha’ gang or by Islamists. All these cannot do much politically but just be noise makers at best. It would not be difficult to counter them politically. BJP can go a step ahead by openly choosing a person for the ICC chairmanship who would be onboard with such a proposal.
Given the open batting by Mamata Banerjee for Sourav Ganguly for the post, BJP can make it a big issue in Bengal as well and lend a big blow to Mamata Banerjee as she would neither be able to oppose such a proposal because of the fear of backlash by the Nationalists (which are in plenty in Bengal) nor could she support it because of the fear of loosing the Islamists vote bank.
Conclusion
Though its a far fetched dream but I do hope it comes true. This issue can become a major poll plank for BJP. It can help Narendra Modi roar back to power with even a bigger majority than 2019. So, Narendra Damordas Modi, if you are a megalomaniac as leftists-Islamists accuse you of, please give us Bhakts to enjoy this spectacle, watch this miracle unfold and taste the sweetness of victory.
Only you can!
