Passport or Passion?

2008 was a tremendous year for Indian sports. First individual olympic gold medal, two more olympic medals, Saina's meteoric rise, Anand becoming undisputed king of chess, great performances by the cricket team, Jeev showing his class on golfing greens, Advani's once again stellar performance, qualification to the Asian Cup in football, rise of Somdev and Prakash, Marykom's 4th successive tital, so many plus in a year. Just when everyone was hoping that finally India is developing into a sporting nation, our government made a rule that will only allow Indian Passport holders to represent India.

This move has met with some resistance from the players who have been representing India for last few years but are not Indian citizens, citing that their american passports help them and hence they would not like to give up on them. But i agree with the government. If you want to represent India then you have to be Indian citizen. You can't have the better of both the worlds.

I agree that Prakash Amritraj is better than many of the Indian tennis players but he should also realise that he would not get a chance to play in Davis Cup for USA. So, if India is benefiting, then he is as well. And more than benefits, it is a matter of respect and pride. Can we trust that Prakash or Shikha won't be tempted to play in such a manner that will benefit USA if we face them in Davis Cup, Fed Cup or Hopman Cup? When they dont want to relinquish their USA citizenship then i think it is fair to say that their loyalties towards USA are more pronounced. It is not that you cant succeed in international sports as an Indian. Prakash's father Vijay Amritraj (though never won a Grand Slam) is considered to be one of the best players of his time. Paes and Bhupathi have won on the tour regularly despite having permanent residence in India.

And even if you think that travelling from India to Europe and USA is a problem, then do what Anand has done. He lives in Spain but never has he given up on his Indian citizenship. The question here is not of being jingoistic but being practical. All the major sportsperson (whether Indian or belonging to any country) say that playing for the country is always a dream, to hear your national anthem, to see you flag rise are all part of the thrill. Can we expect the same from these persons? Won't they be getting same level of excitement when they hear the national anthem of their country? The thing is they need to chose one country.

Allowing OCIs and PIOs to represent India opens a Pandora's box. In cricket we have a long list of successful cricketers of Indian ancestry. Should BCCI then approach them as well to play for India? Should Jeev Milkha Singh be told you are not the best Indian golfer because Vijay Singh's ancestors belonged to India? Should we also take the easy route that many gulf countries are taking to win Olympic medals and import renowned athletes? Should we also consider Alexi Grewal as the first individual gold medalist of India rather than Abhinav Bindra?

I believe sports is more about passion and emotions then about success and failure. If you want to represent India, you have to be an Indian. If you want to hold onto your American or British passport, good for you and best of luck for your life. Just as we cant allow Bobby Jindal to one day come up and say i want to be Indian MP while still being governor of Louisiana, we cant allow non- Indians to represent India.

JAI HIND!!!