The stakes were high, two former teammates – Bhaichung Bhutia and Kalyan Chaubey — were pitted in an election, conducted amidst a suspension of the national football federation (All India Football Federation) by the global governing body, FIFA, jeopardizing India’s chances of hosting the women’s Under-17 World Cup in October.
No matter who had the last laugh, it was Indian football that eventually won on September 2 as the decks for conducting the marquee event had finally been cleared. The global event will be the first major task for the new set of AIFF office-bearers, led by Chaubey, who unlike his predecessors promised: “not to sell dreams”.
Bhutia, the former India captain might have experienced many losses during his playing career, but this seriously was a reality check for the Sikkimese Sniper, outplayed by his one-time East Bengal teammate Chaubey by a whopping 33-1 margin in a politically charged contest.
No marks for guessing the outcome, as Chaubey, a BJP leader from Bengal, enjoyed a fair amount of political mileage across the length and breadth of the country and was nominated by the saffron-party-ruled states of Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh. Sacrificing their ambitions, the member states rallied behind the government-backed Chaubey’s last-minute candidature with the hopes of uplifting their cash-stripped state associations.
A sturdy and reliable custodian, the 45-year-old Chaubey enjoyed a distinguished career between the posts for Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and EB. Now in his second innings, Chaubey is saddled with the difficult task of infusing new life into a moribund association.
Playing for the Kolkata-based outfits require nerves of steel, especially while playing at home in front of packed galleries of demanding – often abusive – die-hard club supporters. Kalyan Chaubey will need every bit of guts and resourcefulness during his new innings. He has had a promising start, defeating the legendary Bhutia by a huge margin.
But the show of political might wasn’t limited to only the ruling party at the centre. The newly-elected vice president of the AIFF, Nalapad Ahmed Haris, a sitting Congress MLA from Karnataka was up against his own party’s Manvendra Singh of the Rajasthan Football Association. For the treasurer’s post, Kipa Ajay of Arunachal Pradesh outclassed Andhra Pradesh’s Gopalakrishna Kosaraju 33-1.
Decorated player but a political rookie
“You can’t keep politics out of any aspect of an Indian’s life,” a visibly disappointed Bhutia had said after losing the polls. Political interferences in the administration of national sports federations have been a norm since time immemorial.
Ask Kalyan about the issue, and he replies, “Can you name a federation where the government, or a party, or a politician is not a part of the federation?” Chaubey and Bhutia might have shared the dressing room but they certainly have paved their way for standing tall in the crowd.
Bhutia is a household name with 104 international caps, since making his debut at the Kolkata Maidan in the early 1990s but his popularity nosedived in the murky political battles of Indian football. Unlike his opponent, who was also a star in his own right, Kalyan was nowhere near the glamour and aura that Bhaichung had at his command during his heydays.
Also unlike Kalyan, who was eventually relegated to the bench, Bhutia, 45, never had to deal with the insecurity of losing his place on the national side. Even after retirement, Bhutia continued to be involved with football, going on to establish the Indian footballers association.
On the other hand, Chaubey’s post-football profile of joining the political bandwagon in 2015, helped him clear the ground for his elevation to the top post in the AIFF. Kalyan might have been unsuccessful as a contestant during the West Bengal Assembly polls in 2021, but his association with the BJP has helped him garner massive support across several state football associations.
For Bhaichung, this could be a great learning curve, as he needs to work on his alliances to stake claim to administrative supremacy in the coming days. The former skipper had said after Friday’s polls that he will continue to be a part of the AIFF’s executive committee as an eminent former player.
However, he appeared to change his stance on Saturday when he decided to skip the first meeting of the committee. Bhutia said later on Saturday that he will take a final call on being a part of the committee in a couple of days.
Rijiju’s hand in polls?
Former defence minister Jaswant Singh’s son, Manvendra, has claimed ex-sports minister and current law minister Kiren Rijiju met a “section of voters” on the eve of the polls and “exhorted” them to vote against Bhutia.
“The interference continued through the process and culminated last night when the union minister (Rijiju) exhorted the association members that they should not vote for Bhaichung. I think that interference is unacceptable and is harmful to Indian football,” Singh had alleged.
Co-incidentally it was the football association of Arunachal Pradesh, Rijiju’s home state, that seconded Chaubey’s candidature. Conceding Rijiju’s presence in the hotel on Thursday evening, Chaubey, in the same breath, dismissed Singh’s allegations as a “lie”.
While there’s no concrete evidence of Rijiju’s influence on the outcome of the polls, the bottom line is that Indian football certainly needed a course correction after allegations of misappropriation of funds, corruption left it in disarray. Can Chaubey bring “Kalyan” to Indian football? Let’s wait for that…
Also Read | Will not ‘sell dreams’, says new AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey
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