The marketing gurus behind Sachin Tendulkar swooned each time the great man dragged his slowing frame by just a few matches more.Two of his final three innings, the one in Ranji Trophy and the 74 at the Wankhede, squeezed the last drops of their money’s worth.
But Tendulkar being human after all, his sunset from active cricket had to come, one final time, which it did last week.So, those raking the moolah have now started positioning a retired Tendulkar, “as a more valuable brand than when he was playing.”
Whatever that means!
Amidst the hullabaloo, Prime Minister has wilted, reportedly under Rahul Gandhi’s counsel, that our man should be Bharat Ratna.Never slow to fall in, the PM lost no time in using his authority to swing this past President Pranab Mukherjee. (Unlike the three Padma Awards, there’s no committee doing the shortlists here.)
The nation’s top honour has raced to the headlines faster than a Tendulkar punch through midoff.But not before fuelling two onslaughts on Brand Sachin.First, if at all a sportsman was entitled to a Bharat Ratna, wasn’t Dhyan Chand a bigger force in hockey than Tendulkar is to cricketIJSecond, whether in its haste, Congress has feted one of its own, ignoring a legendary political leader like Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Controversy diminishes Sachin’s brand personality. But making virtue out of necessity, some see it as a booster to Tendulkar’s brand managers at World Sports Group (WSG). After all, Sachin at 40, is the youngest Bharat Ratna ever; even Rajiv Gandhi was 47 when he was given one…that too after his gruesome assassination.
But in the longer term, controversy will stoke fears that this Bharat Ratna, on whom WSG has taken a bet since 2006, might have to be doubly nimble in rejecting endorsements of potentially harmful foods.There’s a bigger spoiler.
It’s the PM’s decision to announce an MP nominated to the Rajya Sabha ignoring the model code of conduct** for elections.The MCC couldn’t be clearer on the duties of the ruling party:
“The party in power whether at the Centre or in the State or States concerned, shall ensure that no cause is given for any complaint that it has used its official position for the purposes of its election campaign and in particular –
(i) (a) The Ministers shall not combine their official visit with electioneering work and shall not also make use of official machinery or personnel during the electioneering work. (b) Government transport including official air-crafts, vehicles, machinery and personnel shall not be used for furtherance of the interest of the party in power;
(ii) Public places such as maidans etc., for holding election meetings, and use of -5-helipads for air-flights in connection with elections shall not be monopolized by itself. Other parties and candidates shall be allowed the use of such places and facilities on the same terms and conditions on which they are used by the party in power;
(iii) Rest houses, dark bungalows or other Government accommodation shall not be monopolized by the party in power or its candidates and such accommodation shall be allowed to be used by other parties and candidates in a fair manner but no party or candidate shall use or be allowed to use such accommodation (including premises appertaining thereto) as a campaign office or for holding any public meeting for the purposes of election propaganda;
(iv) Issue of advertisement at the cost of public exchequer in the newspapers and other media and the misuse of official mass media during the election period for partisan coverage of political news and publicity regarding achievements with a view to furthering the prospects of the party in power shall be scrupulously avoided.
(v) Ministers and other authorities shall not sanction grants/payments out of discretionary funds from the time elections are announced by the Commission; and
(vi) From the time elections are announced by Commission, Ministers and other authorities shall not –
(a) announce any financial grants in any form or promises thereof; or
(b) (except civil servants) lay foundation stones etc. of projects or schemes of any kind; or (c) make any promise of construction of roads, provision of drinking water facilities etc.; or
(d) make any adhoc appointments in Government, Public Undertakings etc. which may have the effect of influencing the voters in favour of the party in power.”
It is for the three Election Commissioners, VS Sampath, HS Brahma, and Naseem Zaidi, to state whether Bharat Ratna to an MP nominated by the ruling party, one who potentially has millions of voters in his influence, falls under one or more than one categories of violation.
In I.D. Systems (India) Pvt. ltd. v/s. Chief Election Commissioner, the Kerala High Court has held that the object of MCC is not to stop all Governmental activities but those actions which may directly influence a section of electors need to be prevented.
The established practice*** therefore is that even small tranches of central doles to any state going to the polls, the issuance of MP local Area Development Funds, or even subsidy to jute farmers, are effected only after the EC okay them. On Tuesday, for example, the Bhartiya Mahila Bank went past EC’s scanner, even though it was a budget announcement.
**http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/model_code_conduct.pdf
***http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/Electorallaws/OrdersNotifications/ModelCodeC09042013.pdf
(The columnist is CEO & Co_founder, India Strategy Group, Hammurabi & Solomon Consulting. Twitter: @therohitbansal).