The Tale of a Twitter

IPL chief Lalit Modi might have never known the rippling effect his ‘impromptu’ tweet would cause. While blogs and twitters have caused many a battle in Bollywood, this is possibly the first time that the religion of Indian sports lovers has been tarnished. Well, if the IPL falls in that league for you.

While Modi went about carelessly declaring sensitive details about the investments that went into IPL, his ally-turned-foe Shahi Tharoor was forced to resign as Minister of State for External Affairs. And Modi himself is well-prepared to face an onslaught from the Indian Cricket Board, which owns the IPL, when they meet at a meeting of the governing council of the league on Monday. While Modi has asked for some time before the meeting is scheduled, bets are laid that the chief of the scintillating Indian Premier League might have to bid adieu to his days of glory.

While the documents that Tharoor and Modi are fighting over, seem to be official and confidential, there was little likelihood that a twitter could be considered a statement worth the weight it has received. It’s like a superfluous sting operation that adds nothing to the facts but even so, manages to have detrimental effects on the primary concerns of the issue at hand.

In this case, for instance, the IPL seemed to be tasting success never seen in India before. Modi’s story was being reckoned as one of a 21^st century genius. The moolah was pouring in for the league and for the franchises. The advertisers were happy and all seemed impeccably glorious. It seems the big bubble burst. Modi’s twitter about the interest of a junior politician to own a franchise opened up a Pandora’s Box of questions regarding the money that went into it. Modi himself is now being seen as a mysterious investor as he is being charged of money laundering and corruption.

As so-far IPL chairman Lalit Modi plans to move to court against the league’s governing council meeting, media speculations reveal he might not be able to have his way this time. It’s a tweet that went horribly wrong. Words are really like arrows out of a bow. Their effect can never be reversed.

With both Modi and Tharoor out of their jobs, this seems to be the beginning on not only a new corporate governance but also a new social (media) governance that company’s or institution’s may start applying on their workforce.