Sportspersons in poll fray

Cricketer Gautam Gambhir and boxer Vijender Singh have joined the band of high-achieving sportspersons contesting the elections. Gambhir’s pro-BJP leanings had been evident for a long time, and he finally joined the party in March. A month on, he’s the candidate from the East Delhi parliamentary constituency. Vijender’s elevation to the list of candidates was more speedy — he quit Haryana Police, joined the Congress and was named candidate from South Delhi, all within a few hours on Monday. The candidature of Vijender was a bit of a surprise — wrestler Sushil Kumar was expected to be fielded by the Congress in South Delhi. Sushil seems to have turned down the offer. 

In their sporting lives, sportspersons are fellow travellers who aim for excellence and dream of medals; they are united by their common struggle to get funding, facilities and employment from the government. Things turn a bit bitter when they take on each other in the political arena — as have between former shooter RVS Rathore (BJP), pitted against Congress’ Krishna Poonia, a former discus thrower, in Jaipur. Elsewhere, former football captain Bhaichung Bhutia’s political party, Hamro Sikkim, is contesting all 32 Assembly and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim. Another former football captain, Prasun Banerjee of Trinamool Congress, will try to retain his Howrah Lok Sabha seat for a third consecutive term. Former cricketer Kirti Azad — son of a former Bihar CM — is contesting from Dhanbad on the Congress ticket. 

Neglecting long-time workers and politicians and giving the ticket to sportspersons with no history of working for a party seems a cynical step, but it works. Sportspersons are modern-day warriors who battle for medals and glory in global sport, and bring a sense of honour to the ordinary citizen. They have a readymade vote bank cutting across political and economic ideologies. It’s this and not love for sport that makes politicians give up Lok Sabha and Assembly seats to sportspersons who are novices in politics. And after a lifetime in the limelight, retired sportspersons love the idea of finding a leadership role and staying in the public eye. It’s a win-win situation for sportspersons and political parties.