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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 000182 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PTER IN EAGR
SUBJECT: DELHI DIARY, JANUARY 11 - 29, 2010 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 116 
 
¶1.  (U)  Below is a compilation of political highlights from 
Embassy New Delhi for January 11-29, 2010, that did not 
feature in our other reporting, including: 
 
--  Vice-President Ansari: Make Intelligence Agencies 
Accountable to Parliament 
--  Junior Ministers Disgruntled, Tell PM Singh They Are 
Underutilized 
--  Indian Premier League v. Pakistani Cricketers 
--  Ambassador Kozak Hosts Roundtable on Religious Freedom 
and Freedom of Speech 
 
Vice-President Hamid Ansari Calls for Parliamentary 
Accountability of Intelligence Agencies 
---- 
 
¶2.  (U)  Amid the ongoing transition in the security 
establishment (NSA Menon took over from M.K. Narayanan last 
week ) Ref A.), Vice-President Hamid Ansari called for 
legislative accountability for the Indian intelligence 
apparatus.  While delivering the annual R.N. Rao Memorial 
Lecture at the headquarters of the Indian Research and 
Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency on January 19, V.P. 
Ansari cited the U.S. model of legislative oversight and 
called for a similar parliamentary standing committee 
structure in India, with oversight and accountability of all 
intelligence agencies.  Calling for greater openness and 
coordination, Ansari argued that the current mechanism, with 
several intelligence agencies reporting to different 
ministries, &does not address the complexity of intelligence 
gathering or maximize results8. 
 
¶3.  (U)   Ansari was also critical of any mechanism that 
reports to a single person or ministry.  Ansari,s remarks 
run counter to those of Home Minister Chidambaram. Since his 
visit to the National Counter-Terrorism Center in Washington 
in November 2009, Minister Chidambaram has made several 
speeches and press statements expressing his desire to 
consolidate all intelligence, internal security, and 
counterterrorism functions under a single entity that reports 
to him. 
 
Junior Ministers Out of the Loop, Complain to PM 
---- 
 
¶4. (U)  Thirty-three of the 38 Ministers of State from PM 
Singh's government met with him on January 19 to complain 
about a lack of work and involvement in their assigned 
ministries.  Minister of State for Commerce and Industry 
Jyotiraditya Scindia summed-up the frustrations of the 
gathered ministers, who claim they have been given no 
substantive responsibilities by Cabinet Ministers, saying 
"you have given us power, but please empower us."  PM Singh 
and UPA chair Sonia Gandhi reportedly want to groom younger 
ministers for greater responsibility in the future, however 
the gathered ministers complained that the bureaucrats in 
their respective ministries know more about policy 
formulation than they did.  Junior ministers want to be 
invited to meetings and be involved in the decision making 
processes of their respective ministries, but they alleged 
that they are actively excluded and kept out of the loop. 
 
¶5.  (U)  The Ministers pointed out redundant portfolios and 
asked the PM to be involved in work allocation within each 
ministry, a task that is likely to be a logistical nightmare. 
 PM Singh advised the junior Ministers to travel and focus on 
their parliamentary duties, and to understand leading 
technology innovations in their respective ministries. 
Quibbling about irrelevant portfolios and lack of 
responsibility is not new; in the early 90,s, then Prime 
Minister Narasimha Rao abolished the rank of Deputy Minister 
hoping to reduce redundancy and create efficient ministries. 
 
NEW DELHI 00000182  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
Pakistani cricket players snubbed by Indian Premier League, 
Media Frenzy Ensues 
---- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry went into 
over-drive when none of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams 
recruited Pakistani players for the upcoming 2010 season. 
Cricket ties between the South Asian rivals have weakened 
since the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008. 
Pakistani players played for the eight IPL franchises in its 
introductory season in 2007, but did not play in the 2008 and 
2009 seasons because of "security concerns."  All of the IPL 
teams refrained from picking up contracts for 11 highly 
ranked Pakistani players during the January 19 auction, 
fueling a media frenzy about a planned conspiracy to exclude 
and shame Pakistan.  Images of IPL chairman Lalit Modi's 
effigies burning in Lahore streets splashed across the front 
pages of newspapers, while IPL team owners denied any 
conspiracy to exclude Pakistani players. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Privately, IPL owners leaked stories to the press 
claiming that the decision to exclude Pakistani players 
stemmed from the GoI's refusal to guarantee visas and 
security for them.  These leaks dominated English and 
regional language media, embarrassing GoI officials who 
denied any involvement in the IPL's decision to snub 
Pakistani players.  On January 25, Home Minister Chidambaram 
criticized the IPL's decision to pass on Pakistani players, 
calling it "a disservice to cricket". 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Embassy contacts told PolOff that the snubbing was 
indicative of a larger battle between the influential Board 
for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) and the GoI.  The 
powerful and wealthy BCCI is the IPL's governing parent body. 
 In January 2010, the Income Tax department removed BCCI's 
non-profit clause and imposed a tax of USD 25 million on the 
organization.  This was reportedly in retaliation for the 
IPL's decision to move its 2009 finals to South Africa; the 
IPL blamed the GoI for refusing to guarantee security for its 
matches.  The GoI in turn was incensed that the highly 
profitable IPL refused private security when the GoI was 
picking up the tab for poll security across India for the 
2009 general elections. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The battle over the multi-billion dollar cricket 
industry in India has political overtones -- the IPL is 
headed primarily by staunch supporters of the opposition 
Bharatiya Janata Party and non-Congress Party stalwarts. 
This current battle is not the first attempt by the ruling 
Congress party to get their fingers in the glamorous and 
lucrative cricket pie.  Conflicting press stories of 
reconciliation and inclusion of Pakistani players are still 
making the rounds, with the Pakistani Sports Minister Ijaz 
Jakhrani asking the GoI to intervene.  The row over the IPL 
auctions appears to have further strained people-to-people 
ties between the two rival nations and has dominated press 
coverage in India. 
 
 
Ambassador Kozak's Roundtable with Indian Civil Society 
---- 
¶10.  (SBU) On January 22 Ambassador Michael Kozak, Senior 
Advisor to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, 
exchanged views on religious freedom and freedom of speech 
with four prominent civil society leaders. Participants at 
the roundtable included Tarlochan Singh, former chairperson 
of the National Commission for Minorities and current Member 
of Parliament; Father Babu Joseph, Spokesperson from the 
Catholic Bishop Conference of India (CBCI); RaviNair, 
Director of the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Center; 
and Sultan Shahin, senior analyst at Asia Times and editor of 
the New Age Islam online portal. 
 
NEW DELHI 00000182  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) Nair encouraged Kozak to engage European nations on 
religious freedom and freedom of expression, contending that 
the issue of religious freedom extends beyond OIC countries. 
He criticized the GOI's refusal to issue visas to members of 
the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom, who 
wanted to examine the state of religious freedom in India. 
Nair noted that the commission's annual report does not 
contain anything disturbing and stressed that the GOI should 
respect the freedom of expression of others rather than 
attempt to censor differing views. Singh told Kozak that 
while freedom of expression is important, authorities should 
take appropriate actions against those who deliberately 
offend minorities. All participants agreed on the need for 
missionaries to be able to visit India, with Nair adding that 
visa approvals to such people should be based on reciprocity. 
 
¶12. (SBU) The Indian interlocutors present at the roundtable 
collectively stressed the need for greater accountability in 
legal systems in India and around the world regarding 
religious freedom issues. Ravi, Singh, and Joseph said that 
although the Indian government supports peaceful religious 
pluralism in the country, the legal system's response to 
interference with religious belief do not usually reflect 
this purported tolerance. Nair noted that few prosecutions 
took place against the perpetrators of the 2008 violence in 
Orissa, and that there was little movement in prosecuting the 
cases related to the 2002 violence in Gujarat, despite 
sufficient evidence. The government's new proposed communal 
law is weak and unacceptable, Nair contended, because it 
fails to make the police accountable for the actions of its 
members during riots. All the interlocuters stressed the 
importance of prosecuting those in the police who commit 
violence during communal incidents. One hurdle to achieving 
overall accountability, noted Ravi, is that incidents related 
to communal issues involving officials are required to first 
obtain permission from the executive before they can be heard 
in court. Other participants agreed on the importance of 
creating a structure to facilitate accountability and 
corrective action in response to outbreaks of religious 
violence. 
ROEMER