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It is quite unusual to see the two main political parties of India – the Congress and the BJP – taking a similar position – and it raises suspicion.

Both, the Congress and the BJP have taken a position that there can be no questions asked about the Commonwealth Games. Questions about the viability of organizing the games, processes used to put the games together or how the money is being spent are all being deemed unpatriotic. The Commonwealth Games are supposed to showcase India, it is argued, and hence any criticism of the games is criticism against the games.

It has come to pass that the central government continues to ignore clear evidence of corruption by the Organizing Committee.

At a cost of over 30000 Crores in tax payer funds, there is a need for greater discussion and more clarity in the organizing of the Commonwealth Games, assigning of money and the spending process. In fact, it is necessary to question the need for India playing host to the games.

Let us first put the cost in perspective. According to the Auditor General's report, in May 2003, the Government of India allowed the Indian Olympic Association to bid for the games at Rs 296 Crores, with expenditure on security and the Games Village to be taken on by the state government. By December 2003, the updated estimate had an operating expenditure at Rs 635 Crores with other costs at Rs. 1200 Crores. In April 2007, the cabinet estimated a total expenditure at Rs. 3566 Crores. Current official estimates of the cost is 10000 Crores, with unofficial estimates over Rs. 30000 Crores. Compare these numbers with Glasgow's proposal for the 2014 games at Rs 4000 Crore.

The high cost of the games was justified by the government as recoverable through sales of houses in Commonwealth Village, through increased tourism and upgrade in infrastructure that Delhi would have undertaken in any case. There seems to have been a deliberate creep in numbers between April 2003 and April 2007 by a factor of almost 6. Now with costs having exceeded 15 times the initial estimate, perhaps even 20 times, none of these economic justifications seem valid. There has been no explanation of the basis of initial estimate, nor any on the steady increase in budget. Some estimates have been gleaned from a variety of sources. These suggest that the cost of building the Commonwealth Village has gone up from Rs. 465 Crore to Rs. 1400 Crores. In addition, infrastructure and communications costs have gone up from the budgeted amount of 40 crores to Rs. 80 crores. This does not include an additional 1100 crores spent in 'streetscaping' and over 1600 Crores spent in unexpected changes to flyovers. In addition, costs of event planning have apparently gone up from 900 Crores to 2307 Crores – again the basis of this increase in unexplained. Security expenditure is expected to be 320 Crores.

Meanwhile, vigilance agencies have consistently warned of fraud and kickbacks as well as sub-standard quality of infrastructure built that does not meet guidelines. Thus, it is necessary that the Organizing Committee and the Central Government in general provide greater details about the cost of organizing as well as processes of contracts and expenditure. Both entities have lost the trust of citizens and can have no free passes on these questions.

The recent scandals with payments for event organizing to shady entities on ad hoc basis has further raised questions about the process. Despite having over 3 years to organize the games, the organization of the games has been behind schedule. The organizers have consistently used this as an excuse to make ad hoc decisions, granting contracts to organizations with no bidding process and no transparency. The key question is – how much of the budget has been used in kickbacks.

While the state and central government refuses to question the expenditure or put in checks on the processes, the tax payers of India and the people of Delhi bear a heavy burden. Already, there have been reduction in subsidies by the state government and increase in taxes for residents of Delhi. Over one lakh families have already been evicted due to CWG related projects. 44 more JJ clusters are to be

removed before the Games and an estimated 30,000 – 40,000 families will be displaced. Schools run by volunteer groups in areas not served by government infrastructure have been closed down and bulldozed. Labourers working on these projects have been exploited – even per government regulations with regards to working hours and minimum wages.

There seem to be little long term gains from the games either. Recent experiences with mega events show that host countries have usually faced financial losses. With costs of organizing these games having increased over 15 times, and with the government being unable to sell assets such as apartments in the Games Village, Delhi residents will probably bear the cost with high taxes. The other argument – that it will help improve athletics and sports in India is also unsubstantiated. The Asian Games in 1982 did little to improve the level of performance by Indian athletes. With much of the sports related investment focused on stadiums around New Delhi, it is difficult to see how this will help improve performance and conditions of athletes in India.

Clearly, then, questions by Mani Shankar Aiyer should be asked by many more people around the country. Was the organizing of these games of higher priority than bringing infrastructure to tribal communities that have been systematically denied and whose communities destroyed? Was it of greater priority than helping bring basic infrastructure to communities with naxal presence, knowing that such infrastructure would help negate the influence of naxals? Why is this of higher priority than social support to communities whose living index is among the worst in the world? Why is it that the UPA government that has been keen to sell off PSUs, reduce subsidies on a variety of goods that affect the cost of living of the poor and raise taxes to raise money willing to spend such monies? Why is it that a government that has systematical reduced budget contribution to social needs – such as education and health – been willing to spend money with no accountability and no questions asked? These are the questions that every patriot should be asking of the Indian government.

The big question, then, is why are our political leaders not taking patriotic positions? Why are there no questions being asked by any political party? Why the free pass to the government in how the games are organized and how money is being distributed? Perhaps, the answer lies in who the power brokers are and how this large pie is being shared.

The IPL scam showed the political class that there is much money to be made in sports. And that the political class is quite involved with Sharad Pawar, his daughter (an MP from Maharashtra), Shashi Tharoor, among numerous political leaders from across political parties shown to have direct and indirect ties to the protagonists of IPL. While investigation about IPL continues, the political leaders have largely been let off or slipped under the radar.

The CWG seems to be another such opportunity. With no clear benefit to tax payers, or to citizens of the country (besides a sense of false national achievement among a section), the political leadership can only call on Bush-like rhetoric to brush debates and questions away from the Commonwealth Games. Why? What is the motivations? We need to know that those who do not want questions asked are in fact clean.

At the same time, we also want to know why the Commonwealth Games are a prestige for India? Why the ability to organize a sports event – something that a company or an agency should be able to do – is an indication of the ability of a nation? Or perhaps we need a distraction from reality of continued failure of our state – of the living standards of parts of the country below Sub-Saharan countries, of corruption, of education.

As with other cases of corruption in India, the hope is that the issue will die down over time and once the heat is off, gains through corruption will be consolidated. Despite the slew of articles expressing anger at such corruption and ineffectiveness, past experience shows that this time will be no different.

- Sanat Mohanty