It’s just not cricket

It’s official. After the ugly display put up by protestors ostensibly demanding the formation of a Cauvery Water Management Board, the powers that be have decided to shift all the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) matches out of Chennai. On Tuesday, protestors, many from pro-Tamil groups, charged towards the M A Chidambaram stadium, picketed it and are even alleged to have assaulted spectators wearing Chennai Super Kings T-shirts. Over 3,000 cops were pressed into action and close to 800 people were arrested by the end of the evening. Traffic in the area was stalled; even match officials struggled to reach the ground on time. The lowest point, however, was inside the stadium where a group of youths hurled shoes at the players.

Chennai’s cricketing audience has long been appreciated for its responsible conduct and sporting nature. While there may well be legitimate cause for the anger and frustration of the protestors, and while the citizens have a democratic right to protest, this right ends where it results in violence and harm.Thousands in the state have been staging stirs demanding that the Centre set up the Cauvery Board to ensure the timely release of water from Karnataka to TN. However, focusing this ire on a soft target such as the IPL is a move of questionable logic.

What has been gained by targeting the IPL? Groups that believed IPL matches should not have been hosted in the city at a time of such tension have got what they wanted, but to what end. Any national sympathy that may have been gained for the cause may well have been diluted when the first shoe was thrown towards a South African representing the home team. Neither is shifting matches out of Chennai likely to ensure the Centre sets up the Board any sooner. Worse, a perception of instability will only affect the city’s and state’s economy and ultimately its most vulnerable citizens. Cynical or short-sighted politicians who played on legitimate anger of the people to this end should wonder if it was all really worth it.