The Rajya sabha MP has been newly appointed cabinet minister for sports in the month of July 2016. Beaming with confidence Vijay Goel has been very happy that finally he has managed to make it into the good books of the PM, but unfortunately that happiness seems to be very short lived with the kind of media glare that he stole at the Rio Olympics.
There are various versions of the story with Vijay Goel himself defending by a simple word called “misunderstanding” and a counter charge of minister’s men as “rude” and “aggressive” by the complaining officer from Rio. Adding to the flare was his pics / selfies with various athletes. Frankly no point in getting into the details of the incident, since none of us know the truth.
But always remember “perception” matters.
One thing is clearly indefensible is the point that at the first place itself why does the minister has to visit Rio along with his wife on a tax payers account?
The PM will definitely be unhappy about this, why does a minister ever has to visit the Olympics, what good will it do to the country in the arena of sports by his visit. There can be claims and justification like his predecessor Ajay Maken too visited London in 2012, but then we do claim that “yeh sarkar alag hai”, you may say for cheering up the athletes, but then every citizen wishes to cheer up and for that you do not have to fly all the way to Rio. A classic example being that the PM had urged for suggestions for his Red fort speech and Sachin Tendulkar requested him to speak on India’s athlete in Rio, Modi immediately appreciated and responded back saying “why wait for 15th August to speak about the subject. I want to do so now. India is phenomenally proud of all our athletes in Rio & their hard work that got them there”, this is in spite of loudmouths like Shobha De commenting “Goal of Team India at the Olympics: Rio jao, selfies lo, khaali haat wapas aao. What a waste of money and opportunity”.
Once appointed as a minister the PM would have definitely wanted him to work on looking into the crux of the problem for why India lags in winning medals at international sports. Countries as small as Korea, Hungary, Japan, east European nations have managed to bag large haul of medals, the idea should have been to understand the difference between our set-up and theirs, demarcate things possible to implement in Indian conditions and resources, basically in a nut-shell to make a future foolproof blueprint for the country to excel in sports.
The sports infrastructure is very poor in the country, the reason is definitely not money but the will and the understanding to get the “right things” at the “right time” at the “right place”. Schools do not have any connectivity with professional sports and the professional sport bodies managed by the politician friends are without any clue for expanding that sport to masses. The tribals from Jharkhand and the Dangs are rich in archery and rifle shooting, soccer is the life for north-east, “kusti akhadhas” or wrestling are way to live in UP, boxers from the north, badminton from Hyderabad, tennis from Bangalore, etc. are crude gems which just needs cutting and polishing to shine. There is a need for R&D in sports, take the example of the Chinese and the Russians who have worked extensively for years to tap the maximum potential of a sport by a human in a much professional way. Winning a game does involve more than just physical hard work, it counts for mental strength, using herbs, ayurveds, yoga, meditation and unbanned substances to heighten and accelerate the untapped potential of a sportsperson.
By power Indians are the fiercest on the ground and are no less in any sport, we just need a good support model for a win. Today I see many kids and youngsters with the grit and determination to make a mark, the minster just has to make a way to channelize this strength and that will make the difference.
Vijay Goel could possibly have these and the right things in his mind and it is too early to comment on his work now, but what I as a citizen of this country could understand, the PM at the end of the day will expect RESULTS. A structured approach for a solution towards the problem is something that will make him feel delighted and off course any glare of wrong limelight is something he will definitely be unhappy.
At the end I must say that the Hon. Vijay Goel is lucky enough to work with the prime minister as his boss to learn many things first hand and he must take full advantage of this.
