Transition time for sports, politics & business

his was truly a people’s week and in as different spheres as north and south.

While a not-so-known son of UP’s political leader promised to stand clean and tall in the muck ofgoondaism, the more cherished son of India’s first political dynasty got out of the rough and tumble of politics and learnt that acceptability among voters does not come easy. In quite another sphere of sports, the retirement of a low-sung icon brought an emotional outpouring among all sections of cricket which was quite in contrast to the earlier tirade against the same man for non-performance in Australia.

Indeed, strange are the ways of public, especially when it comes to showing the leaders their place. The reactions are not just cutting but they are also clear cut in telling the icons that all of them, at the end of the day, are at their mercy.

If one were to take a comprehensive view of the nation at this juncture, it comes out clear that all fields are in a phase of transition. The young ones are emerging not only in sports, particularly cricket and hockey, but also in politics and the corporate world.

The newest face on the horizon though is Akhilesh Yadav, the son of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akhilesh, it seems, is the voice of change in UP, a State that has fallen to abject corruption and goondaism. Though Akhilesh’s future is full of pitfalls, his CV is quite impressive. Till the time he came into politics, Akhilesh, who is now being credited with having defeated the scion of the Gandhi family, was a much grounded, shy boy who as an engineering student down south never flexed his muscle. Very few in his college knew that his father, at that time, was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh who looks uncannily like his father (he is a replica of Mulayam Singh Yadav in his youth), is a strange mixture of change in his party, as also in UP. Having spent time out of India for higher studies, he is chic with English though in his political avatar he always speaks in Hindi. You would be surprised that he is heavily into football and his favourite clubs are Manchester United and Liverpool! One wouldn’t expect such a diversified knowledge from Mulayam’s son, so in that context Akhilesh is a breath of fresh air.

Of course, for a party which has been synonymous with goondaism, Akhilesh has the difficult task of keeping his clean image intact and also steering SP out of the muck its leaders have grown to so intensely love. All eyes are on this new scion and the future of his party will depend on how he and his non-caste, non-corruption, non-lawless aspirations reflect on his party’s activities in the next five years.

On the other side of UP, was the transition of Rahul Gandhi who is yet to record a success story on his political report card. UP was to be his test which he failed but his candid confession of responsibility for Congress debacle in such a crucial State somehow keeps the belief alive in him. As much as the Congress may talk about a good crop of young leaders in its fold, fact remains that the party and the public perceive only Rahul Gandhi to be the heir to the party’s long legacy. So far, he has maintained an awe inspiring façade of cleanliness in the dirty waters of power politics. His intentions too seem to be honest. But he is still a student of politics at 40 plus, so he needs to hurry up if he aspires to make a difference to his nation and his party whose going in the 2014 elections looks more and more dismal, what with losing even in its traditional pockets in Uttar Pradesh.

Though we associate dynastic politics with the Congress, the new reality is that dynasties are emerging in all sorts of parties other than the Congress. Akhilesh in Samajwadi and Sukhbir Singh Badal in Akali Dal are some examples. Sukhbir has scripted a very difficult journey within the SAD where Parkash Singh Badal’s relatives were all out to down his son in the race for power.

That’s in politics where transition is happening slowly but surely. In corporate India, too, the sons are going great guns. Just some months ago, the Tata Group stalwart Ratan Tata gave way to the next generation. Cyrus Mistry of the Pallonji family took over the leadership of the big conglomerate. Again, this change signalled a new wave in Tata even though the new leader of the Group is known to be media shy and rarely makes a public appearance. The head over his shoulders though is known to be as business-like as it can get.

Back in sports, the moving story of the week was Rahul Dravid’s retirement after a wholesome 16 years in the middle. Rahul’s story of retirement was not just any other story, it was the first concrete step towards the transition of the Indian team. Quite conspicuously MS Dhoni did not make a statement on Rahul’s retirement and neither did Dravid mention him in his speech. But much as we hated Dhoni for demanding that the seniors must take a walk, fact is that it has growingly become the need of the day, especially with just three years left for the next World Cup. It takes time to hone the next generation of players so Dravid’s statement that he needed to leave so that a young gun’s chances were not blocked is correct.

Now all we need to see is when the likes of Tendulkar and Laxman will hang their gloves. When they do, indeed, there will be a gaping hole which would be difficult to bridge but then till a gap comes by there can’t be any filling. So, we will hold our hearts and even shed tears when the great Tendulkar announces his retirement but isn’t that the law of nature?

Source: Sunday Pioneer, New Delhi, 11 March, 2012