Bangalore Turf Club faces closure threat
The Bangalore Turf Club, which has been under intense pressure for total mismanagement and collapse of the system under the Chairmanship of Marilingaiah, received a major jolt yesterday when a senior minister of the Karnataka Government vowed to close down the turf club.
Ramachandra Gowda, the Minister for Planning and Lotteries made a strongly worded statement on the floor of the state Legislative Council on Wednesday when council members raised questions regarding the running of the club. There were noisy scenes in the Council when answers to questions regarding number of members of the turf club, its revenues, how it was managed or mismanaged, and the role of the government in its functioning et al, were not forthcoming. The Congress members who were not happy with the delay in the reply from the government despite having given sufficient time, even went to the extent of stating that the government was shying away from giving a proper reply because quite a few of its top IAS and IPS officers were members of the club and they were shielding the questionable activities of the club. A demand for a House Committee probe into the affairs of BTC was also made.
The government of Karnataka has recently banned lotteries and the statement of the minister may come as a continuation of the stand to put an end to all activity which involves speculation. But that is putting the matter in a very simplistic way. Not long ago, the highest court of the country, the Supreme Court, while overturning the ban on racing at Chennai, had said that racing was a game of skill and not just a speculative activity.
The Bangalore Turf Club is grossly mismanaged and there have been complaints that a handful who comprise the club, have been giving a damn for niceties and running the show disregarding public expectations. The membership of the club is restricted to just 350 and new members are added to the club on the death of the existing member through an electoral process with the general body voting. Elections are held for these vacancies if the number of vacancies is a minimum of five. The aspiring member has to run to each member’s house, seek his vote by impressing them with his credentials and in quite a few cases, with inducements, both in kind and cash. It is difficult for an outsider to break into the system as it is closely controlled and only those who are connected with the power groups, get elected. Very rarely, an individual who is not part of the existing fraternity also gets elected but that is more an aberration. The situation is such that hardly 60 -70 members of BTC are regular race-goers. Election politics determine the way the club functions and as such, the racing activity which is the reason for the very existence of the club, takes a back seat. Every decision is taken to please the power groups and members and the professionals, owners and paying public hardly get any recognition for their contribution. They come last on the priority of the management of the club.
The Chairman of the Club is meant to be elected by the Managing Committee members but over the past few years political interference has become the deciding factor for the top post in BTC. Aspiring candidates approach the Chief Minister to indicate his preference and this person then becomes the chairman regardless of his calibre. This has led to the deterioration of the system and political and other interference guides the acts of the authorities. The officials have been reduced to powerless pawns in the hands of the authorities and they have been carrying on, doing the biddings of the powerful, with their conscience totally mortgaged to be in power.
Of late, there has been demand that the membership of the club should be increased so that the sport can be less prone to the influences of the small minority. As getting membership of the BTC lives up to the old joke of being tougher than getting elected to the Legislative Assembly, it is no surprise that there have been moves by certain politicians to pressurise the BTC to increase the membership of the club by a substantial number. This is being resisted by the club members as their clout is sure to fall if such an eventuality comes about.
The race horse owners have been up in arms against the management because their interests are being compromised repeatedly by the management which has no stake in the sport. The Articles of the club, incorporate about 20 years ago due to pressure from the government due to mismanagement from a certain section, prohibits a race horse owner from becoming a Steward of the club. It is the Stewards who govern the sport and we have a situation of the sport being guided by persons who are there only for the trappings of power, with no knowledge or love for the sport and this is the reason for the spate of questionable decisions being handed out by the managing committee in the recent past.
Though one hates the interference of government in the running of the sport, the way it is being administered now, calls for such an initiative. There are several issues that need to be addressed including broad-basing of membership, bringing race horse owners into power and allowing professionals to run racing. If the move of the government culminates in bringing about these changes, then the government initiative is more than welcome.
Though the government has held threat to close down racing, such an eventuality happening is far-fetched.
