Harpal Singh Bedi 

New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah  unveiled the statue of  former DDCA president  and Union minister Arun Jaitely at  FerozShah Kotla Ground   here   on Monday.

The ceremony  to  install Jaitley’s life-size statue , made by 96-year-old renowned sculptor Ram Sutar, was a power packed affair and it was attended by among others Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, BCCI  president Sourav Ganguly, opener Shikhar Dhawan, ex  opener Gautam Gambhir and BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla 

Arun Jaitley had served as the DDCA chief for 14 years, from 1999 to 2013. The former union finance minister  passed away on August 24, 2019 due to multiple organ failure

Paying tribute to his late colleague Mr Shah said “Arun was like an elder brother to me. He was known for his sportsmanship spirit in political circle. He remained aggressive in his speeches but never lowered the dignity of the Parliament,” 

Speaking on the occasion Ganguly  called  Jaitley’s contribution as immense in the development of cricket in Delhi, 

“I remember a phone call (he) made during the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. We had lost the first game and the whole country went berserk but he (Jaitley) said that association supports you and you play well. These small things matter, he was a great human being,” the BCCI chief said 

This is a remarkably talented state which has produced so many players, Virat Kohli, Ishant Sharma, Rishabh Pant now and many in the past. A settled DDCA is good thing for Indian cricket and hopefully they can do it.” he said.

When we play and get 100, it gets recognition but lot of people work behind the scene and help the cricketers. Jaitely was a cricketer’s person. that is the role of an administrator,” he added

Gambhir  opined that  the installation of Jailtely’s statue is a perfect tribute to him.” We won the Ranji trophy during his tenure and the stadium was also built. Honesty, (being) intellectual and absolute transparency are important for any administrator and he had that,” The Lok Sabha member from East Delhi said.

Meanwhile DDCA president Rohan Jaitely urged the former India cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi not  to  insist on the removal of his name from the stand at the ground 

Bedi had  criticised the DDCA for its decision   to install the statue of Jaitely and had demanded that his name be removed from one of the stands .

Describing Bedi as the ”Bisham Pitamah” of Delhi cricket,  Rohan Jaitley said the association will request the former India spinner to withdraw his demand of removing his name from a stand at the ground.

“Bedi ji is the ‘Bhisham Pitamah’ of Delhi cricket. If there are reservations, there are better ways of discussing. I am a youngster and I expect to be guided by the elders in the fraternity. His name on the stands is his legacy, an honour bestowed upon him,” Rohan said after the unveiling ceremony.

“These matters have to decided by the Apex Council. It’s not in my domain. It’s not in my power to remove anyone”s name.

 Rohan was emphatic in saying that ” I want his name to be there. I respect him as much as my father, if he wants to scold me, he can pull my ear but you can’t hit below the belt when it is not required.

“Raising (casting) aspersion on someone who is not among us is not fair. If there are reservations, I would have addressed rather than hearing from the media. I am accessible, available to everyone on board.” Rohan said and added that the decisions of renaming the stadium as Aun Jaitley Stadium and installation of his father’s statue were taken before he became the president .

“There are ways to address the grievances. If you start attacking someone, who has just stepped into the office…. I am trying my best to get DDCA’s glory back. I can’t do it overnight, it will take some time,” he said adding .”I  request him to reconsider it. It’s a long affiliation between the DDCA and Mr Bedi.” 

He asserted that  at the DDCA  players will be at the centre of all development. “World  class infrastructure for players and members, a world class gym will be there in the next few months. We are upgrading cricketing infrastructure, the new lights are being planned. We are already communicating with the DDA on setting up of academies. Two grounds have been identified already.

“We are trying to bring in a more transparent system. Development plans will begin. The old clubhouse has issues, we are already communicating with IIT Delhi to rectify”.

hsb