Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 14 (IANS) For Kerala’s football-mad fans, Lionel Messi was supposed to be more than a footballer. He was almost a demigod who would descend on the State, pull on the Argentina shirt and turn Kerala into a little slice of Buenos Aires.
For the then Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2025, the Messi dream also appeared to carry a useful political dividend, particularly with the local body elections approaching in December and later the Assembly polls.
What began as an attempt to woo Kerala’s soccer faithful has now turned into an administrative and political mess, with the new V.D. Satheesan government examining how government machinery was allegedly deployed in pursuit of a private company’s (a media organisation) interests.
The Left government had first raised the expectations of millions by holding out the prospect of an Argentina-Messi spectacle in Kerala.
When the much-hyped event failed to materialise, the government and then Sports Minister V. Abdurahiman did not exactly blow the final whistle.
Instead came a new narrative, Messi and Argentina would definitely come, and the event was only a matter of time.
Kerala waited. Fans waited. Messi, however, remained firmly elsewhere.
The government’s assurances kept the football fever alive, even as the promised spectacle repeatedly failed to take shape.
What was projected as a grand sporting extravaganza gradually began looking like a match in which the spectators had bought tickets but nobody could say where the stadium was.
Now the political bill appears to have landed on the table.
The Satheesan government has already flagged serious lapses on the basis of a preliminary report prepared by the Sports Secretary.
The report has raised questions over the manner in which the deal was pursued, including the alleged selection of a private sponsor without a tender and the decision to proceed without the required scrutiny of the Finance and Law Departments.
The Satheesan government is also examining whether rules were bypassed and whether official authority was used in a manner that could have benefited a private company.
The role of Abdurahiman, who was Sports Minister when the Argentina project was pursued, is also expected to come under scrutiny and perhaps even Vijayan himself.
For a government that hoped Messi could deliver a political goal before the local body polls, the scoreline now looks rather different.
The Messi moment never came.
The votes did not produce the expected miracle either, which has left Vijayan and the Left limping badly.
And Messi, the man who was supposed to bring football glory to Kerala has, ironically, left behind something far less glamorous, a messy administrative mess.
–IANS
sg/rad
