About a week before this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League started, I had taken a look at the match schedule to see when Chennai would be playing. When I realised that the first home match of the season would be happening on the 10th of April, against Kolkata (two-time champion and one of our biggest rivals), I knew I had to go.

My father probably guessed how badly I wanted to see CSK in action and made sure he got his hands on a couple of tickets. So there we were, on a Tuesday evening, walking down the road, looking for an auto to get us to the stadium. One finally pulled over right next to us and the driver looked at our yellow shirts and asked, “Chepauk aa?”. I smiled. There’s a certain joy you feel inside you when you hear that name, synonymous with the MA Chidambaram Stadium itself. We got into the auto right away, price didn’t matter, after all, we were going to the match!

I was mostly lost in thought during the ride. I had a semester practical exam the very next day but I was more worried about the team that MSD might be fielding against Kolkata. Plus, I’d read and heard about the protesters who were marching in support of the Cauvery issues and, I have to say, I was intrigued to see them. It seemed like a good idea to raise awareness about such an important issue on a platform such as the IPL. Of course, I was thinking about the protests regarding Jallikattu which remained mostly peaceful. The auto driver dropped us in front of this huge police bus, we paid him and parted ways, but not before he reassured us with, “namma inniki jeichuruvom” (We will win today).

The first thing I saw before I entered the stadium was the police herding several young protesters into that bus I mentioned earlier. One of them was fiercely shouting slogans into the press cameras and mics that were aimed at him. And that was all I saw, the crowd looked very calm and the police were doing a good job of maintaining the peace.

Jadeja hit a six off the last ball to win the match for CSK

The match itself was an amazing one! KKR managed to put 203 on the board with the help of some explosive batting from Andre Russell. CSK started off well in the powerplay overs, slowed down in the middle, but managed to reach the target with one ball to spare, thanks to Sam Billings.

Seriously, two things never fail to surprise me; firstly, CSK winning matches from almost hopeless situations and, secondly, how the whole of Chennai becomes a family for about three hours when CSK is playing. People from all strata of society make sure they go home in time for the match, stats about players are shared in offices, classrooms and streets and everybody is hoping for the team to win. Watching the match in the stadium brings these emotions out of spectators in the most extreme ways! You can see people literally screaming their favourite players’ name, chanting slogans and analysing every single ball and deciding how it might affect the outcome. And on the days when CSK is victorious, the entire stadium is just one big bundle of joy and happiness.

And then, two days ago, this happened.

An article from the Times Of India

Before I write anymore, I’ll admit, I’m a die-hard CSK fan. However, I shall do my best to analyse what has happened and voice my opinion in an unbiased way.

Protests at Chepauk

Let us first examine the events themselves. It’s pretty simple. Tamil Nadu has been involved in a dispute with Karnataka over the low amount of Cauvery water that the latter releases into TN. Tamilians have campaigned for many, many years on various platforms and levels but to little or of no avail. It is an almost continuous issue affecting the state, however, the protest itself seems to experience only occasional surges of popularity among the public. One of those surges happened over the course of the last two weeks due to the delay on the part of the Central Government in forming the Cauvery Management Board. This coincided with the return of CSK to Chennai after over two years. Multiple politicians and celebrities expressed their unhappiness about the IPL taking place in Chennai at the same time as the protest. On the day of the match that I went to, multiple protests and violence occured in the area surrounding the stadium. As a result, the BCCI decided to shift all of CSK’s remaining home matches to Pune due to security concerns.

Now, some people support this decision and some are totally shocked that this had to happen. Personally, I feel that this is just the stupidest decision ever.

The number one argument that I hear from supporters of the decision is, “What is more important to you, a stupid cricket match or water for our farmers?!?”. Obviously, as someone who loves his culture and is proud of the state that he lives in, I do believe the number one issue at hand right now is the Cauvery Water Problem. But what I’m failing to understand is how the two are related. How does shifting matches from Chennai to Pune help? Maybe it raises more awareness on the issue itself but that could have been achieved by less drastic means.

The fringe outfits which were protesting at the match have stated that playing cricket matches in Chennai would “divert the attention of the youth” from more pressing matters. I can’t even express how funny that statement is! So, since the matches have been shifted to Pune, does that mean the youth of TN will now start protesting against the Cauvery Issue? I’m not saying that this shouldn’t happen, I’m saying that it’s just not a likely possibility.

Fans who would have gone to the stadium to watch the match will now just watch the match at home. That’s the only effect of this decision. No one is going to stop watching the IPL just because matches were shifted from Chennai to Pune.

Kaala, releasing on April 27th

Actor Rajinikanth has stated that hosting IPL matches in Chennai is an embarassment when the state is currently involved in this dispute. Tamil Nadu has been involved in these disputes long before the Indian Premier League existed. We shouln’t forget that Mr Rajinikanth himself has turned up to watch quite a few CSK matches at Chepauk. Alright, let us assume, for a minute, that hosting matches at the Chepauk is an embarassment. Then, isn’t the release of his new movie, Kaala, on April 27th also an embarrassment? Shouldn’t he postpone the release of the film so as not to “divert the attention of the youth” from more pressing matters? It would seem to most people that Mr Rajinikanth is making such provocative statements to appeal to the voter base that he shall be facing in the upcoming elections than as a concerned citizen.

Coming back to the debate, another argument that opponents of the Indian Premier League propogate is the fact that maintaining the pitch at Chepauk requires large amounts of water. While it is true that water which can be used for the pitch can be used for other more useful purposes, I would also like to point out that even more larger quantities of water is being used for the production of alcohol being sold in TASMAC shops around Tamil Nadu! So, shouldn’t these outfits and protestors also try to close down TASMAC shops, bars and pubs? Remember the protest against Pepsi and Coca-Cola factories situated in Tamil Nadu last year? Now that was a protest with a clear objective and a valid way of going about things.

I think the part about this whole incident that saddened and angered me the most was the way the protesters protested. They dragged unsuspecting fans who were on their way to the match out of their cars and forced them to remove their yellow jerseys and then proceeded to burn these. Bear in mind, these were fans who just wanted to see their favourite team in action. They just wanted to have some fun.