Rajat Subhra Chatterjee
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So the Cat is out of the bag.
Boria Majumdar, the cricket historian and journalist has reportedly been found guilty by the Board of Control for Cricket in India ( BCCI ) in the Wriddhiman Saha text case and faces a two-year ban for the same, as reported in the Indian Express.
On February 19, 2022 Saha wrote on Twitter, sharing the screenshot of the chat he had with the journalist, – “After all of my contributions to Indian cricket…this is what I face from a so called “Respected” journalist! This is where the journalism has gone.”
One of the messages in the chat read as, “You did not call. Never again will I interview you. I don’t take insults kindly. And I will remember this.”
BCCI took cognizance of the post and the screenshot shared by Saha and promptly set up a three-member committee comprising vice-president Rajiv Shukla, treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal, and Apex Council member Prabhtej Singh Bhatia to look into the matter. It is also reported that Saha eventually identified Majumdar as the journalist concerned who threatened Saha when he came in front of the committee.
Majumdar too eventually identified himself through a video on Twitter and claimed that he would take legal action against Saha. The report also says that while deposing before the committee, Saha identified Majumdar and alleged that he was “bullied” for an interview. Meanwhile, Majumdar accused the cricketer of “doctoring” the screenshots of the Whatsapp messages he had posted on Twitter and later shared with the committee. So the circle was thus completed.
A notification signed by IPL Chief Hemang Amin circulated to all BCCI members stipulates :
a) 2 year ban on Majumdar not to get any accreditation in India for any domestic or International matches,
b) Banned from all Indian grounds for 2 years
c) Banned for 2 years from getting any interview of any registered Indian cricketers.
So far so good if one looks at the matter one way. Boria has been censored for his over enthusiasm and ‘ don’t care ‘ attitude by the BCCI. Rightly or wrongly – I am not entering into that reasoning. Yes, Boria of late had a tendency to go beyond the line courtesy some father figures in Indian Cricket scenario. His ‘not readable’ book on Gavaskar recently published with lot of fanfare notwithstanding, he thought that his closeness with powers of the corridor in BCCI would get him bailed out at any time. Yet, we need to know what grave thing he did to Wriddhiman Saha that called for such a punishment !! Indian cricket lovers want to know the full story. Why keep things under the carpet. In any case, for last couple of years the amount of dust has got accumulated under the BCCI carpet, it will take lots of washing before the carpet is cleansed.
And with BCCI, never, never, transparency has been the key word. Team selection, omission, dropping of a player, removal of a captain from his position hardly ever had been done with any sense of transparency. In 1971, BCCI Selection Committee Chairman Vijay Merchant had placed his casting vote to oust MAK Pataudi from captaincy which had a track record related with his none-too happy personal relation with Merchant. The secret was never made public. The 1979 World Cup Captain Venkataraghavan heard his disposition from captaincy on the flight back home through Flight Captain’s loud speaker in the presence of all other players and public. It was utter humiliation. All insiders knew, at whose behest, in 1984, Kapil Dev was dropped for the Kolkata Test against England? Yet public never came to know the actual reasons for dropping the World Cup winning captain. Well selection committee decisions are not to be made public. Sure. But then if someone like the Boad President or the Team Head Coach had confided with a player privately, assuring him to stay cool with his place in the team, that too is a huge secret and that should never have come out in public ! But Wriddhiman Saha has made that personal assurance public and have ridiculed the top brass of the Board ! And yet no punishment to Wriddhiman ? Double standard too has a limit. This is too much. At 37 Wriddhiman still wants to play. Fair enough so long he deserves a place. But you can not make a confidential assurance from the Board Chief – public! My question is why Wriddhiman has been left scot free. Will there be any action ? We have to wait and see.
