And at some level I understand the reasons. It is not completely unreasonable to expect the elections to consume most of our security forces. Also, you don't just have to provide security for every match, but also for all the practices, press conferences, promotion events etc. I mean, just imagine the reaction if Sachin or Dhoni was injured in an attack. A very scary thought!
But, it is a rather sad. A little sad that our government doesn't have the capacity to provide the needed security but sadder that recent events dictate us to even require this level of security.
On a lighter note, a friend considers venue changes for other events -
Other events that will require attention in the coming year also have alternate venues selected. Indian Idol auditions are going to be held in Bahrain, the Kala Ghoda festival has been moved to Times Square in New York and the Lakme Fashion Week is now in Yemen. Currently there are 3 cities bidding for the August 15th independence day parade including Tehran, Lima and Caracas.
While most citizens are aghast by these happening, the tourism industry is thrilled. "My hotel is already sold out for 10 days in October since they announced that the festival of Navratri will now take place in Budapest," said Miklos Groza a Budapest hotelier. "We are all eager to learn Dandiya and Garba and have begun recruiting bands to play," he added.
2 comments:
As one accepts the fact that India, a nuclear equipped nation, is not able to provide adequate security to its citizens, one feels increasingly more comfortable in the notion that the leadership is looking at creative ways to import this service from other friendly nations. This short coming has presented India with a unique opportunity to realign its foreign policy and appear as an activist of cultural events across national borders including music, dance and sports.
No self respecting government will admit to this embarrassing yet disturbing fact. Therefore India, and understandably so, instead of reaching out to friendly nations and importing their security services to police its sports, and other music shows, is finding neutral and safe nations to host these events on its behalf. The message of a more suitable weather or an exotic location can be easily sent to its players, viewers and participants as we are seeing in the case of South Africa hosting IPL league. Friendly foreign polices with host nations can be ostensibly negotiated in light of travel, hotel, advertising revenues and tourism dollars for the host nation. At the end of the day what New Delhi is buying is the host country’s armed forces and police and kudos to them for not even packaging this purchase any differently.
Agree with Nitin's views. In fact, this move is a testament to the resourcefulness of India. From a business standpoint, IPL can benefit greatly from this by showcasing an event which is mostly local to India (its one Indian city against another after all), in a different country and increasing the following of the sport. They would never be able to do this without raising a huge outcry without raising a security issue.
And there are more extreme precedents which are being set - I heard that due to the situation in Pakistan, England has offered to become the host to all their "home" games.
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