The image of former US President Trump raising fist when blood was streaking across his countenance moments after shots were fired at his election rally in Butler, Pennsylvania is a reminder of an imminent threat of deep polarisation in democracies across the world. The assassination attempt and a defiant Trump holding his fist up will give a boost to the campaign of a Republican contender but raise serious questions on the burgeoning gun culture and a toxic political milieu. Indeed, the attack may push Donald Trump’s prospects given the sudden change in messaging post-attack, and expected sympathy. Yet, the incident should worry the rest of the world as it has happened in the self-anointed custodian of the world’s oldest democracy.
From India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi have strongly condemned the incident. One can heave a sigh of relief that Trump is safe and leaders across the spectrum have condemned the shooting. The incident would jeopardize the calculations of Democrats and Joe Biden in the race for the White House in the aftermath of his disastrous debate performance. America’s tryst with gruesome political violence and acrimonious debates is very long and such incidents instead of bringing an end to hate campaigns have been used by the leaders across party lines to incite feelings further. American democracy is replete with scars of many such murderous assaults. Sadly, four American presidents have been assassinated while in office – Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and Kennedy, while many more including Reagan, Ford, Truman, and Roosevelt are among those who survived attempts on their lives. It must be remembered that political violence has no place in a democracy where there is conflict of ideologies, which is the basis of a healthy democracy.
Tehelka Cover Story
While we at Tehelka join in condemning the assassination bid and a threat to democracies across the world, our cover story in this issue – “It’s just not cricket” by the Special Investigation Team uncovers a massive fraud in ICC coaching certifications amidst never-ending echoes of the match-fixing scandal years ago. Tout boasts before the spy camera of a Tehelka reporter posing as a client: “You don’t need to worry about the selection process or the exam. I’ll take care of that as I’ve already obtained certificates this way.” The ICC, which serves as the global governing body for cricket, representing 108 member countries, conducts cricket coaching education courses for Levels one, two and three twice a year. The tout claims that he had leveraged his connections at the ICC headquarters in Dubai to arrange the certificates and all we need to do is send our candidates to Dubai for a week just to complete the Level 1 course — and he’ll handle the rest. That shows that all is not well with the gentleman’s game!
