Let us share our World Cup triumph with our neighbors

The recent World cup cricket victory of our Indian team has presented us with a great opportunity to channelize our feeling of jubilation and ecstasy into strengthening our sometimes hot sometimes cool relationships with our neighbors.
The three of our neighbors who participated in this World Cup i.e. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh share similar socio-political as well as economic issues that we ourselves face. Our vanquished opponents in the knock out stages i.e. Pakistan and Sri Lanka both face serious political and economic challenges. I believe we should like a true brother share our glories with them at this critical juncture of their nations’ respective histories.

Distinguished Foreign affairs expert Dr. Sreeram Chaulia mentions in this article that the world cup triumph signifies a new renaissance of the hopes of millions of downtrodden masses of India who look to cricket not as a sport but as a medium for upward mobility.

Like us the populations of our neighbors also share the same aspirations and face the same challenges (probably more difficult challenges in places in north-Western Pakistan in particular) that we do. So if we reach out to them at this critical juncture when we feel we are at the top of the World this will definitely strengthen our position in the hearts and minds of these people.

Here are some of the initiatives I believe we should take to achieve the same. The all-powerful Board of control for Cricket in India (BCCI) alongside the government of India should donate US$1 million (these can be derived from the huge revenues that we have been able to generate thanks to our successful organization of the World cup) to the calamity-hit peoples of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Both these two countries have been going through massive socio-political upheavals in the recent years so donating this amount would show our goodwill towards the real people who are suffering from all these problems.

Next, we could offer to play charity cricket matches in venues like Colombo (with Sri Lanka) and Dubai (with Pakistan), the revenues from the charity matches should be donated for the education of thousands of orphan children in places like the calamity-hit Khyber Pakhtoonkhwah province of Pakistan (previously known as North Western Frontier provinces) or civil war hit regions in Eastern Sri Lanka.

We could also invite the T-20 champion teams from our neighbors to participate in our IPL tournament and henceforth make it as a SPL (Sub-continent Premier League). This would also allow our neighbors to participate in the bonanza called IPL which would undoubtedly help them to achieve their much needed finances.

The strife-torn children in these troubled areas do not have much bright prospects in their futures except the dark alleys of poverty, illiteracy and extremism. With this initiative we can think about giving these needy children some better options like education and career. If these children decide to take up cricket bats and pens instead of guns; I believe it will be our societies whose security will have better prospects in the long term.

Cricket as Dr. Chaulia mentions has helped lower middle class youths like MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar to become the icons of our nation. This game is not only a pass time for our youth but a medium to reach newer heights in life that none of our previous generations could ever have imagined. I believe this is the future we should offer to the populations of our neighbors also. The World Cup triumph has given us the best possible opportunity in decades to project ourselves as the real leaders in the region. This is an opportunity we should not let pass by us.
The real leader is not the one who only exalts in his triumph but is the one who is ready to share the spoils with the rest.