The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has sought clarity from the Union Sports Ministry, regarding the stand on Dow Chemical's sponsorship of the London Olympics.
In his fourth letter on the subject to the Union Sports Minister, Ajay Maken, the acting president of the IOA, Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, pointed that the Indian stand on the subject had been weakened owing to the fact that a seminar of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), under the Union Agriculture Ministry, had been sponsored by Dow.
“IOA has received several queries from abroad on this issue,'' wrote Prof. Malhotra, and added that people wanted to know, “what action Indian government had taken against Dow Chemical's large operation in India.''
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Prof. Malhotra said that many questions like, ‘why there was a protest of the sponsorship while the ‘tainted' company was doing business in India?' and, ‘Has the Indian government taken up the issue with the US government as Dow Chemical is an American company', were quite pertinent.
Categorically stating that it was the government's job to take a call on the sensitive subject, Prof. Malhotra expressed his anguish about not receiving any reply for the repeated letters seeking clarification from the government.
The IOA president also expressed his disappointment about selective leaks by the government to the media about the possibilities of boycotting the opening and closing ceremonies, or not sending an official delegation for the Games as a token of protest.
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''With only five months left for the Games, this suspense is not good because it is affecting the preparations of the contingent,'' said Prof. Malhotra.
He stressed that it was not right on the part of the government to have written directly to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the IOA had forwarded a communication that clarified IOC's stand on the subject.
Prof. Malhotra said that it was important to put forward a united stand, and suggested that the government was “playing politics'' that would damage the Indian stand.
“The IOC charter is very clear and strict on such an issue. The talk of selective boycott will have very serious repercussions and will ultimately boomerang,'' warned Prof. Malhotra.