Shatadru Dutt from Rishra with a degree in economics and ex-investment banker creds, fancies himself to be a sports contractor par excellence. He has previously managed to bring in football stars like Cafu, Ronaldinho, Bebeto, Maradona, and even Emiliano Martinez to Kolkata. This year, for months, he'd hustled sponsors and inked deals to land Lionel Messi, cozying up to political circles for procedural smoothness.
Gifting mementos to netas eventually bought him goodwill, and on 13 December, Dutt's efforts bore fruit when Messi landed in the City of Joy, where he has millions of die-hard fans. He had already started dreaming about his next big gig, bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo next to Kolkata.
The chance of any such event is now low Dutt is currently in a 14 days' court-mandated police custody following the Messi visit fiasco. Kolkata, known to be the Mecca of Indian football, wanted to roll out the red carpet for Leo Messi. Instead, it tripped over its own feet. While Hyderabad and Mumbai pulled off smooth welcomes for the Argentine legend, Salt Lake Stadium turned into a site of pure chaos on 13 December. After three days, scars of the Saturday night frenzy are still raw and visible across the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan (VYBK) where fans erupted in rage and stadium gear worth crores was trashed. The fallout forced West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas to quit by Tuesday afternoon.
But why couldn't Kolkata match the other cities? Who's really to blame here—the organisers, the politicians, or a collective screw-up that has left a stain on the city's pride?