Glasgow opened the Commonwealth Games in style after paying respectful homage to the MH17 victims. It’s a time of high divide in Scotland as it nears a September referendum on whether to become independent or stay a part of UK. But Wednesday night’s opening ceremony, with 5,000 athletes from 71 nations, was filled with bonhomie and Scottish first minister Alex Salmond kept the plebiscite issue away. That didn’t, however, stop 100 Tamils from protesting against “genocidal” Sri Lanka’s presence in the Games.
Comparisons to 2010’s New Delhi Games are inevitable and also somewhat political. Indian athletes were heard complaining of shared toilet facilities while praising the larger accommodation offered in Delhi. But Glasgow’s organisers were candid that they had learnt to avoid some problems related to the Games by holding out Delhi 2010 as a warning rather than an example.
What would the Glasgow organisers make of the Indian legal system, under which the chairman of the 2010 organising committee is still at large over three years after being arrested by the CBI and chargesheeted under Sections 120B and 420 of the IPC? He may have been stripped of various posts like the presidency of the Indian Olympic Association, Asian Athletics Association and stopped by a court from attending the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony. But it’s still strange that Suresh Kalmadi, all his henchmen and officials who were charged in the multi-crore scam remain free. But then we always knew that the wheels of justice move ever so slowly in India.
