Political lessons from World Cup

Nirmal Sandhu

REPORTS of teenagers in Phagwara, Rurka Kalan and Mehalpur watching on big screens the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Russia will not surprise anyone interacting with school-going students. In fact, grown-ups who have stayed away should also watch the world-level football matches and draw appropriate lessons. Fun apart, the exercise will help them build character and strive for competence of the highest order apart from coping with defeat and failure and celebrating heroism and success. And, of course, to see Ronaldo score a hattrick, which he did in Portugal’s opening Group B match with Spain, is uplifting in itself.

Technology has enabled teenagers to look beyond the borders to choose their heroes. It was a pleasure to see teenaged footballers in a park in Amritsar talking of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Pele and Maradona in their animated conversation after an exhausting match in humid heat. And the international football icons do not just inspire and electrify school-level football players in Punjab, but also serve as their role models.  

The first lesson Punjab has to learn is from its children: think globally and admire excellence, wherever it is. Top sporting clubs and countries in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere hire the best available coaches and buy the best possible players, including foreigners, to reach the top. A lesson for the political class: hire the best to do a job and build a system that ensures this.

Punjabis are increasingly forsaking competition and seeking posts/benefits/freebies on the basis of poverty, caste, religion and political contacts. Political parties do not cast the net wide to choose candidates but limit themselves to existing political families, caste groups and vote banks. As a result, the electoral process throws up mediocre governments to run the affairs of the state. 

Partap Singh Kairon is still remembered for building up institutions because as Chief Minister he had a global outlook and a vision. Foreign expertise, technology and institutional support in the shape of Punjab Agricultural University made the Green Revolution possible. The subsequent leaders did not prepare the state for its side-effects. Punjabis, then, were open to experiments, risks and new technologies. Now, helped by a short-sighted political leadership, they are stuck, doing agriculture the same old way they are familiar with and that is ruinous not just for them, but also for the state’s water resources. 

Fund crunch is a persistent excuse for the leadership for not doing anything transformative. Although being well-off helps promote a sporting culture, some of the world’s richest and powerful — the US, Japan and China — could not qualify for the World Cup. Senegal and Uruguay have rejected the idea that a good GDP is the key to success in an international competition.  

Size of the population or geographical disadvantage also does not matter beyond a point. Iceland, a tiny country with a population of just 3.3 lakh, did not just qualify for the World Cup, but stunned football fans all over when it held to a 1-1 draw Argentina that has produced some of the all-time football greats, including Messi. 

Nothing can deter Punjabis provided there is the will and courage to succeed. Milkha Singh came from a modest background and he fought every obstacle that came his way before he became what he is today. The Army helped him reach his destination. 

Many of the gifted children remain hidden in the shadows or fall through the cracks because as a nation we misspend our resources and allow human resources to wither away. Not just every state but every city, town and village needs to have a fair, honest and corruption-proof screening system to search talent and adequate infrastructure and institutional support to hone it — and not just in sports.

If rot has set in and crippled Punjab’s delivery and governance institutions, it is because over the years merit has been sacrificed to promote partisan interests. Democracy has been hijacked by select political families which collude to preserve and promote own power and privileges. The 98-year-old Akali Dal has been reduced to the level of a family enterprise. Leave aside the World Cup, can a team dominated by family members of the selectors hope to succeed even in a local match?

The same is true of the Congress which is equally responsible for dislodging Punjab from its once number one position. Despite verifiable proof of shoddy performance and misplaced priorities, the same set of leaders has been returned to power. It is a poor team that Punjabis keep electing over and over again to run their collective affairs. As in the World Cup, poor performance is no disqualification, at the individual or party level.

The ruling cliques do not throw wide open the party door to let in fresh air. The Congress has to shake off the old guard and well-entrenched interests and induct a vibrant younger lot if it wants to stay relevant in and after 2019. The verdict on AAP will have to wait as it still remains untested beyond Delhi which is a city state.  

Even a substandard government can deliver if it respects institutions and plays by the rules. Despite a history of corruption and cronyism, FIFA has not just kept the game alive, but also taken it to new heights. Governments in Punjab are known to throw every rule book to the wind and decision-making is often guided by whims and fancies of a CM or a Deputy CM. Bad choices and governance have their consequences. The Congress has an international hockey player, Pargat Singh, as an MLA and yet the job of Sports Minister has gone to a school-passout without any excitement for sports.

An international karate player, Kuldeep Kaur of Gujarpura village near Batala, committed suicide in January this year due to police inaction in a case of assault on her and her mother, and patronage of her assailants by a minister. An SIT was formed that expectedly bailed out the suspects but the court has rejected its report. These two examples are indicative of the government’s functioning and the leadership’s mindset. 

It is true every player and every country or state cannot reach the World Cup standards. What is galling is no effort is even made to move in that direction. For a state that has a high rate of unemployment and so many of its youth turning to drugs, having a throbbing sports culture is not an option but a necessity. But to change track, you need a leadership that is aware and responsible and values and builds brilliance. And not just in the sport arena but in every other field — education, health, agriculture, industry, environment and politics. We have stopped dreaming of excellence at the global scale.

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