Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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06CALCUTTA327 | 2006-08-01 13:44:00 | UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY | Consulate Kolkata |
VZCZCXRO7074 PP RUEHBI RUEHCI DE RUEHCI #0327/01 2131344 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P R 011344Z AUG 06 FM AMCONSUL CALCUTTA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1058 INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0947 RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0360 RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0360 RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0212 RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0217 RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 1296 |
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CALCUTTA 000327 |
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On July 30, two passions in West Bengal (WB), cricket and politics, collided in the voting for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) presidency. The election took on a significance greater than normal for a local sporting association as the two candidates, former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jagmohan Dalmiya and Calcutta Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee became proxies for factions within the WB Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM). Dalmiya, considered highly corrupt, was supported by former CPM West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Jyoti Basu and old-line Leftist CPM leaders striving to protect their position in the party against the growing dominance of CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Bhattacharjee had put forward and publicly supported Police Commissioner Mukherjee in an effort to clean-up the CAB and to insulate it from Dalmiya and his reputation for graft. Demonstrating his continued influence and strong political backing, Dalmiya won the election on July 30. The following day, CM Bhattacharjee vented his frustration over the results in a surprising outburst at an afternoon press conference saying that Dalmiya's win was a "Victory of evil over good, over right thinking people." Tensions between CM Bhattacharjee and CPM leaders of the Jyoti Basu camp had been festering since the party's victory in the May state assembly elections. The CAB elections served to bring the intra-party wrangling to the surface. End Summary. 2. (SBU) Reflecting the axiom, "the smaller the stakes, the bigger the fight," the July 30 CAB elections became a major test of wills between CM Bhattacharjee and CPM patriarch Jyoti Basu. The 93-year old Basu, who served as CPM CM of West Bengal for 24 years, is still a national Politburo member and a strong figure within the state CPM hierarchy. Basu apparently blocked CM Bhattacharjee in his effort to select all his own cabinet ministers after the CPM's resounding victory in the May state assembly elections. Basu was reportedly instrumental in retaining some ministers that were seen as either corrupt or incompetent, such as godfather-like Transportation and Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty. Basu's criterion for these ministers was loyalty to him rather than competence. Basu and his Left supporters have also been critical of Bhattacharjee's efforts to attract large investments to West Bengal. In May, after the state assembly elections, Tata Sons CEO Ratan Tata announced plans for a USD 230 million car factory in the state. Basu and Chakraborty criticized the initiative for potentially dislocating farmers and reducing the state's fertile agricultural land (REFTEL). 3. (SBU) However, the CPM, noted for party solidarity, attempted to keep its disputes from the public eye. As related to ConGen by a local businessman with links to Chakraborty, the CAB election became an opportunity for Basu and Chakraborty to thwart the CM by discretely supporting Dalmiya, without overtly breaking party ranks. The CM and Chakraborty, a diehard Basu loyalist, have had a tense relationship for years. Bhattacharjee had sought to oust Dalmiya from his position as the CAB president because of Dalmiya's reputation for corruption and out of concern that Dalmiya's other nemesis, national BCCI President and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar would block future cricket matches in West Bengal and its Eden Gardens stadium should Dalmiya win. CM Bhattacharjee put forward Calcutta Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee to contest the election. The pre-election campaigning became charged with Basu, Chakraborty and even WB CPM General Secretary Biman Basu questioning the CM injecting himself into the CAB elections. Events took a dramatic turn when Commissioner Mukherjee released to the press an e-mail reportedly from local cricket hero and former India cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly, in which Ganguly wrote in reference to Dalmiya, "There are people in the CAB who are playing with players' careers to suit them . . . . I am happy that the chief minister and the people concerned are addressing issues and working in the right path." 4. (SBU) Dalmiya's influence and political supporters carried the day for him as he won the CAB presidency, with the member sporting associations and clubs voting 61-56 for Dalmiya. The victory prompted CM Bhattacharjee at an afternoon press conference on July 31 to characterize the election as a battle of "good versus evil." He went on to say, "It is fight between justice and injustice . . . I will not compromise with wrongdoing. This man has many vested interests outside cricket, he has to go. . . If I did not interfere, it would have been a crime. My interference was necessary to save Eden Gardens CALCUTTA 00000327 002 OF 002 (cricket stadium) and the future of cricket. Eden is one of the best stadiums in the world, but it has been turned into an abandoned one in Dalmiya's regime." -------------------------- COMMENT -------------------------- 5. (SBU) On the surface, CAB was merely a squabble over who gets to run a state sporting association. However, cricket and politics are passions in West Bengal that when combined create an explosive mix. The CAB elections became an opportunity for old CPM members, who question CM Bhattacharjee's economic initiatives and see their influence waning, to publicly thwart him while retaining the pretense of party solidarity. Dalmiya's victory, though an embarrassment for the CM, is still an indication of Bhattacharjee's strength in that it is only on marginal issues like CAB elections that he has faced significant opposition from some members of his party. To use the language of cricket, while the CM's candidate Police Commissioner Mukherjee was "bowled out," the CM's side is still batting well as he has gotten his way on development, education reforms and other key policies. JARDINE |