Jiji Thomson. Manorama (File photo)The noisy and acrimonious exit of Jiji Thomson from the Sports Authority of India has not yet been a wake up call for the government to tackle the chaotic state of Indian sports. No full time successor has been appointed though Olympic games are just a year away as the sports secretary Ajit Sharan has been given additional charge of the authority which runs stadia and coaching camps. Thomson had hoped that he would lead Indian sports administration till the Olympics. But he had to get repatriated prematurely to Kerala, as the department of personnel and training showed no signs of making him a secretary. The shadow of the palmolein case has been hanging over him for two decades, and the DOPT hesitated to put forward his name to prime minister Narendra Modi for promotion.
Thomson has been involved with the running of sports bodies for the last six years. When scandals and delays hit the preparations of the commonwealth games of 2010 the then cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrashekar, who is also from Kerala cadre, wanted to get an efficient officer to see that the facilities including the commonwealth games village were made ready in record time. The organising committee led by Indian Olympic association president Suresh Kalmadi had floundered in a sea of corruption and mismanagement. Thomson tackled the bull by the horns, ensured that contractors and suppliers did their job on time, and won high praise for his role in the success of the games. Thomson was also asked to clean the mess left behind by Kalmadi and company. He was one of the last senior officers to be relieved from the organising committee.
All along Thomson struggled with the ghost of the palmolein case, where he insisted that he had only implemented a Kerala cabinet decision and there was no evidence of any malafide on his part. The Manmohan Singh government picked him up for the tough job of running the sports authority of India, which has a love-hate relationship with the national sports federations. Though these federations claim to be autonomous in their functioning, they are mainly dependent on the government for funds to train and send athletes for national and international meets. Thomson would not cede ground to the federations about whose functioning he had serious doubts. His famous confrontations were with the Hockey India, the body which took over the running of national game, after former police officer K P S Gill had been ousted. Thomson objected to the loose way federations were employing coaches and offering them preferential contracts. His rough tongue lashing had some of the federations up in arms.
But all along Thomson had tried to work out systems by which talent was recognised and promoted. While he was dealing with lot of egos of office bearers, some of whom were politicians or bureaucrats entrenched in the federations, Thomson was himself accused of having a big ego. But he had good equations with the sports ministers in both UPA and NDA governments.
Now, Narendra Modi who has been emphasising on youth and skills, will have to find a good manager for sports, who understands both the politics and the potential of Indian sports. That way he can dispel the feeling in bureaucracy that director generalship of SAI is a parking place for bureaucrats who are either out of favour or waiting for bigger opportunities.
Tailpiece: Representatives of minor parties who are part of NDA are hopeful that Narendra Modi would expand his cabinet and give them a role. These parties include Apna Dal, RPI(Athawale), and Swabhimani Paksha. The BJP leadership has only said their case would be considered at the appropriate time. However as relations of PMK with BJP has soured in Tamil Nadu, there is little chance of former minister Anbumani Ramadoss getting a ministerial berth.
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