Olympics, 2036: Host And Ghosts
THE WEEK India|November 24, 2024
The Indian Olympics Association (IOA) has sent the International Olympics Committee (IOC) its ‘letter of intent’ to host the Olympics in 2036—appositely enough the centenary of the very year, 1936, when Adolf Hitler hosted the Games in Berlin!
MANI SHANKAR AIYAR
Olympics, 2036: Host And Ghosts

The letter, reportedly drafted in consultation with the Indian government, might have been written by Jawaharlal Nehru, the bête noire of the BJP. For it invokes not “1,200 dark years of slavery” as claimed by Narendra Modi, but the “vast cultural diversity” of the country, shaped “by thousands of years of history”, as the raison d’être for our bid.

Repudiating the known ideological view of the sangh parivar, the letter proudly proclaims that “our society is a mosaic of religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism, each contributing to our rich heritage and society”.

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