Prabhakar snubs showcause proceedings
Onkar Singh
Former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar, who was due to appear before J P Singh, joint secretary in the Ministry of Sports, to show cause why the Arjuna award conferred on him should not be withdrawn, told rediff.com he did not keep the appointment as he felt it would be humiliating for a person of his stature to stand before a senior government official to explain his conduct.
"If the sports minister, Ms Bharti, calls me I will definitely go and explain my position. But
you cannot expect cricket players to go before an official of the Ministry of Sports to explain their
conduct.
"Earlier, when I went to the Ministry of Sports to tell them what was going on in the BCCI they invariably told me that the BCCI is a private body and
they could do nothing about it. And now that BCCI has
punished some of the players, the Sports Ministry officials want to take back our awards on the same
grounds," declared an angry Prabhkar.
He said that the Government of India had given the
Arjuna award to him in 1994, when it felt that he had
really earned it. "How can they take back something
that they gave to us. I had given my blood and sweat
for the country. Now they have equated me with Ajay
Jadeja. How could they do it?
"I have sent my reply to the man who sent me the notice. This was good four or five days back. I will appear only before the minister and no one else," he said.
He made it clear that if the government still feels he should return the award despite the fact that he is not guilty then he would do so without any hesitation.
"Let them send someone to my house and I will return my award to him," he said.
When asked if he has anything in writing from Manoj Prabhakar, J P Singh, who had been directed by the sports minister to seek explanations from the tainted cricketers -- Prabhakar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja -- why their Arjuna awards should not be revoked, replied in the negative.
"If I had received anything I would have told you about it. We had
called Prabhakar to appear in person or submit his
reply in writing. I waited for 45 minutes but he did not show up. We have asked Ajay Jadeja and
Mohammad Azharuddin to come tomorrow and the day after
respectively. Let us see whether they come or
not," Singh said.
Newsmen who turned up in large numbers had to
return disappointed as the man who levelled charges of match-fixing against Indian cricket icon Kapil Dev decided to tell the media through a
friend that he would not even make a friendly
appearance at the Ministry of Sports.
Attempts to contact Ajay Jadeja, who is scheduled to
appear on Tuesday, proved futile.
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