5th March

Keep It Going

The article expresses grief about the recent attack of terrorists on cricket players directly and asserts that cricket should not be made hostage to the terrorist forces in the subcontinent.

The impact of the recent attacks on Sri Lankan team in Lahore would not be restricted to Pakistan. It would have impact on the entire subcontinent and especially the IPL and the ICC World Cup in 2011. With players’ security becoming the top most priority for the organizers, the IPL fears cancellation since the dates clashes with general elections in India. Postponing, as suggested by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, is not feasible since ICC already has a packed calendar for 2009. Although IPL admin is positive about organizing private security, it would not satisfy players. If the tournament gets cancelled the worst sufferers would be franchisees and broadcasters. Fate of ICC World Cup is anybody’s guess.

However, on the other hand ICC cannot do away with organizing cricket in the subcontinent which is responsible for majority of its revenues. Pakistan is also a country that has produced some of the finest cricketers but the domestic unrest has pushed it to the situation that the country didn’t host a single test match last year. Opportunities should be explored for offshore locations to organize matches and the players should be encouraged to play in other countries. While hosting international matches in India should be less of a concern but players’ security should be the highest priority at the same time.

Constantine and Us

The article tries to draw a parallel between Constantine in his later stages of life and the current propagators of Hinduism for their disrespect for the co-existence of a secular society. The author suggests that politics should be kept away from religious matters and visa versa.

When Constantine defeated the Roman Empire to end the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor, in the battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD, he issued an edict of Milan which stated the right of other divinities to co-exist with Christian God. This is similar to the Indian secularism which allowed all the faiths to co-exist in peace while keeping the state separate from the religion. Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi also was a principle based on secularism. However, in his later life, Constantine was least secular. He renamed the city of Byzantium with his own and also removed all the non-Christian temples. Emperor Theodosius, his successor, made Christianity a state religion. This is similar to the current saffron activists who oppose the Indian principle of secularism. 

However, religion is too sensitive an issue to be left with politicians. The actions of Roman emperor were successful since his writ was unquestionable. However, such actions cannot be tolerated in 21st century. Although BJP president Rajnath Singh, reiterated his party’s commitment to build the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, BJP has many other issues to corner UPA for the elections. Religion should never be mixed with state.