The differences between AAP government and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) came to the fore on Saturday during the fourth Test at Ferozshah Kotla with former and current players bearing the brunt and embarrassment of it.
In a felicitation ceremony planned for Saturday morning, between 9:00am and 9:15am, to honour the state winners of the 1983 and 2011 World Cups, a late cancellation (at 8:35am) by the Delhi government forced the players to be red faced and unravel a blame game.
Delhi government had notified the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) that they would be felicitating 10 stalwarts from the state. Kirti Azad, Bishan Singh Bedi, Mohinder Amarnath, Madan lal, Sunil Valson, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Gautam Gambhir were amongst them. Azad, Sehwag and Bedi were already present at the gate before leaving after being told of the cancellation.
The Delhi government had sought permission from Justice Mudgal who is overseeing the match on behalf of the DDCA, which was further forwarded to the BCCI administration.
On Friday evening, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur made it clear to Justice Mudgal and henceforth to the Delhi government that the event can happen but not inside the field of play because it is not allowed as per International Cricket Council’s (ICC) rules and regulations.
“The BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur sent an email that it would not allow any felicitation to be held in the playing arena during the course of the Test match. The message was conveyed around 10 pm at night. It stated that it cannot allow anything inside the field of play,” DDCA treasurer Ravinder Manchanda said.
On the first day, Sehwag was felicitated but before the first ball had been bowled. “It was a BCCI function. This is the function of a third party during an ICC-accredited match. So BCCI said that nothing can be done inside the playing arena,” Manchanda clarified.
As a solution, the two stands next to the VIP area: Hill-side and Bay area were made available but this wasn’t acceptable to the Delhi government and they decided to cancel the programme altogether.
“In fact, Mr Thakur said that they could do it outside the playing arena at one of the Hill-side galleries but they refused. The DDCA had no role in the matter. We only followed BCCI diktat. But at 8:35 am this morning, Delhi government informed that the programme is being cancelled,” he stated.
In the aftermath, Aam Aadmi Party’s lawyer and strong critic of the BCCI, Rahul Mehra took to Twitter to hit out at the BCCI by saying, “Unfortunate turn of events. The felicitation ceremony of our cricketing legends fm (from) [sic] Delhi has been called off.” later, in an interaction on Twitter with a journalist, he gave the state government’s account stating they had the necessary permissions from all parties — DDCA under Mudgal, ICC match referee (Jeff Crowe) and Delhi Police. He also denied receiving any communication from Justice Mudgal on Friday evening towards the technicality of the field of play.
Mudgal letter to AAP
Justice Mudgal showed the journalists the thread of communication with Mehra who was speaking on behalf of the party and Arvind Kejriwal. The brief correspondence said, “I’ve tried my best but since the DDCA is an affiliate of the BCCI, it is bound by it’s directives and I am not in a position to change the location of the event directed, as the Test match is a BCCI event governed by ICC rules. However I have made suitable arrangements to ensure a suitable location in the ground befitting the location. Please do come and do the event.”
In reply, Mehra replied with a brief, “No thanks.”
Kejriwal’s demands
Beyond the demand of the players being felicitated on the field of play, the AAP demanded a lap of honour for chief minister Kejriwal after the Deputy CM Manish Sisodia had done a recce of the stadium on Friday.
“After Deputy CM Manish Sisodia checked the arrangements yesterday (Friday), we were told by another AAP leader (Mehra) that Kejriwal would take a lap of the stadium and they also demanded air time. Now the official broadcasters (Star Sports) also allowed airtime between 9:05 am to 9:15 am.
“But Police authorities said that they cannot allow CM to take a lap of honour of the stadium as it could possibly lead to a tight security situation. Also ground during the match belongs to ICC match referee and BCCI,” Manchanda explained.
The letter by the DDCA to AAP, which has been accessed by The Pioneer, states: “This is with reference to our meeting held in the morning in regards to the visit of Hon’ble Chief Minister and Dy. Chief Minister of the Territory of Delhi at FSK Stadium on 05.12.2015 to facilitate [sic] some members of the cricket team which won cricket world cup — 1983. It has also been mentioned that CM/Delhi will go to Eastern Stand to meet school children. In the strong likelihood of children leaving their seats and try to race up to meet him, which may lead to a stampede and any untoward incident. likewise, him reaching in front of the eastern stand to wave at the children is likely to cause the same situation besides causing disruption hazards to the players as well as spectators.
It is therefore requested that the visit of Hon’ble CM be restricted only to the designated function area before the commencement of play.”
Further, the AAP government demanded a 14-vehicle entourage to be allowed access to Gate 2, which would have created a traffic snarl on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg.