Scindia was a sporting politician

new delhi: madhavrao scindia, who died in a plane crash on sunday, though better known as a politician, was also a sportsperson at heart. despite hectic schedules he had to keep as a politician, he always had time for sports and welfare of sportspersons. an active weekend cricketer and a keen amateur golfer, scindia brought all his administrative and diplomatic acumen he was famous for in the running of sports in the country both as an administrator and as a minister.scindia was the president of cricket board from 1990 to 1993, a stormy period during which allegations of malpractices in cricket first surfaced at sharjah and india pulled out of competition in the desert outpost. it was the diplomatic skills of scindia, who was under intense pressure from two divergent groups - one that did not want the team to play there and some players who could not resist the lure of big bucks and participating in matches there - and found the solution to satisfy both sides. understandably, the sporting community expressed their shock at the death of the affable scindia. "it is very tragic, very unfortunate for the country for it has not only lost an able leader but a very competent sportsman and a sports administrator," said former india captain bishen singh bedi. another former captain kapil dev said that he was "too stunned to react". indian olympic association president suresh kalmadi said that it was a "big blow to the sporting community. personally, i have lost a very, very good friend and the country has lost yet another good leader". cricket board vice-president c.k. khanna said that the death of the sport buff was a "tremendous loss to indian sports in general and cricket in particular". scindia's tenure as human resource development minister (in charge of sports too) in 1995-96 in the p.v. narasimha rao government was too short for him to do much. but it was scindia's ability to look at the problems from a sportsperson's angle too that marked him out. to him goes the credit for taking big time cricket to his hometown gwalior, where the stadium is curiously named after one of the hockey legends of the country, capt roop singh, younger brother of the immortal dhyan chand. he also spurred the madhya pradesh cricket team to rise from the level of poor country cousins to that of one of the front-runners on the domestic scene. in a message, madhya pradesh cricket association secretary sanjay jagdale said that scindia's death was a personal loss to the state unit, which rose to great heights during his stewardship and had the distinction of hosting many international matches. always lending a sympathetic ear to the troubled, scindia was a sporting politician, a rare breed indeed.