Former Indian sports minister blasts Commonwealth Games 28/07/2010 |
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India’s former sports minister has hit out at the decision to host the Commonwealth Games when there is so much poverty in the country.
Mani Shankar Aiyar is angry that millions is being spent on the event when “children are being deprived of basic facilities to play”.
He claimed he would be happy if the “circus” that is the Games was “spoilt” by bad weather.
“I am very happy with the rains – firstly because it will ensure a good agriculture for the country and secondly it will ensure that the Commonwealth Games are spoilt,” Aiyar said.
“I will be happy if the Games are spoilt,” he added after a downpour in New Delhi this week turned many of the construction sites into a sea of mud.
Aiyar argued that money spent to build stadiums and roads for the October 3-14 Games could have been used to build sporting facilities in deprived regions of India.
“Thousands of millions [of rupees] are being spent on circuses like these while the common children are being deprived of basic facilities to play,” Aiyar continued.
Games chief Suresh Kalmadi branded the Congress party MP’s comments “anti-national”.
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