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Critics call Commonwealth Games crisis a symptom of a failed state
This article titled “Critics call Commonwealth Games crisis a symptom of a failed state” was written by Giles Richards and Brian Homewood, for guardian.co.uk on Saturday 25th September 2010 19.57 UTC
After the events in Delhi last week, a nation somewhat on the defensive may have been expected. Far from it. The Commonwealth Games crisis has turned from an issue of embarrassment and mismanagement into a vituperative assault on the very fabric of Indian society and its governance, the catalyst for grievances that go far beyond dirty sinks and collapsing roof tiles.
The brunt of the anger has fallen on the Games organising committee, with The Times of India publishing a poll revealing that 97% of readers believed it had “tarnished India’s image”. The paper concurred: “These jokers … deserve no mercy. Why should the nation be embarrassed for the folly of these individuals?” The Financial Express was equally unforgiving: “When [committee chairman] Suresh Kalmadi toured the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and declared that ‘everything is 100% ready’, was he wearing blinkers against the rubble and stagnant water?” Mid Day was blunter still in reference to committee secretary Lalit Bhanot’s suggestion that cleanliness complaints were simply down to cultural differences, replying: “Sure dude! Our low standards make it really OK to have crap in the living room …”
All of which is understandable, but as the problems intensified so did the reaction and its targets. Shobhan Saxena, again in the Times, was unequivocal: “We are a third world banana republic which is falling into a bottomless pit.” Before asking how anyone expected the country “to pull off an international sporting event without it sinking into the slime and grime of corruption and bad governance”. The Games, it seems, were but the tip of the iceberg: “These are the symptoms of a failed state. We make tall claims about growth, but we treat our poor worse than animals. We aspire to be world power, but we can’t even provide drinking water to all our citizens. We claim to be world’s biggest democracy, but we ‘solve’ all our social and political problems with loaded guns in hand.”
He was not alone. The Telegraph commented: “This reality of a rising rate of growth and a corrupt and corroded delivery system … has led us into the worst anarchy imaginable … The CWG symbolizes this truth of supreme failure and massive corruption.” The Deccan Herald saw the Games as “a microcosm of the way in which activities in the public domain are being handled in this country … Corruption, confusion, chaos, procrastination, delay, blatant political interference … The CWG project is not an exception but a typical example.” The Hindustan Times finished the job: “In a way, the CWG preparations have been a model-scale version of India itself. Tales of success and ambition laid out on a rockbed of medieval infrastructure and the sheer inability to create a new one.”
This is criticism the government was not anticipating as hosts – the celebration was not supposed to backfire into lacerating self?examination and much now depends on how the Games actually pan out. Success will distract but, as The Times observes, failure will only highlight the issues last week’s problems raised – principally “the disconnect between India’s newfound modernity and the masses of Indians who still face pitiable conditions of existence”.
Critics call Commonwealth Games crisis a symptom of a failed state Red Sports. Always Game.
FAILED!
Another funny posts from the jealous. Someone among the top ranking failed state calling others 'failed', someone from the poorest country in the region calling others poor.
When ever someone want to do something big failures come but it cannot stop anyone from doing that big work.