It is truly unfortunate that the Indian Grand Prix has been caught in the cross-fire between two persons who have big stakes in it, albeit for different reasons.
The saga began with JPSK Sports, promoters of the event, being denied permission by the sports ministry to remit $ 36.5 million to the Formula One Association. The ministry said that since it didn’t consider F1 as a sport, and saw no merit in approving the transaction which falls under the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
It was then the turn of chairman of Force India and Federation of Motorsports Club of India (FMSCI) Vijay Mallya to express his displeasure at the incident.
On Monday, a day after Giancarlo Fisichella gave Force India their first ever championship points, sports minister MS Gill once again stoked the fire by sticking to his guns. “Formula One is the most expensive entertainment even in the West,” Gill said. “We are focussed on promoting sports and that’s how it should be. For the rest, it’s a free country, what they want to do here is their business,” he said.
To add to that, Mallya saying that things will eventually work out and India will host a GP in 2011 is a bit hard to digest. Incidentally, Formula One was brought to India by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
| 
|