Indian Hockey Player Vandana Katariya’s Family Harassed, Called Casteist Slurs After Losing Match In Tokyo Olympics

Indian Hockey Player Vandana Katariya’s Family Harassed, Called Casteist Slurs After Losing Match In Tokyo Olympics

No matter how many patriotic movies they release, come Independence Day, I’m not going to be feeling it. I mean, how do you feel pride over a nation where a nine-year-old Dalit girl gets gangraped, where crimes against women and the marginalised are motivated by social differences that are created by man? And where the family back home of a sports player, Vandana Katariya, who is out there bringing glory to the country at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, gets harassed and called slurs because of their caste? The shame is palpable in the air, and our heads ought to be hung before they can be raised in pride as we try to celebrate any win of the Indian women’s hockey team as our own.

At the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, the women’s hockey semi-final match between India and Argentina ended with the latter winning 2-1 against us. Our girls in blue will now have to go up against Great Britain on Friday, 7 am, to secure a bronze win.

 

 

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According to a TOI report from Haridwar, a mere hours after the India-Argentina semi-final match, two upper caste men began circling the house of player Vandana Katariya in Roshnabad village. They went on to burst crackers and dance in some twisted mock celebration, and even hurled casteist slurs at the family. According to these lowlifes, Team India lost because “there were too many Dalit players” in the team.

Vandana’s brother, Shekhar, spoke to TOI and told them that despite the loss, they were proud of Vandana and the team because they had gone down fighting. However, these disgusting men and their antics threw a dampener on their emotions. He even said that when they stepped out to check the ruckus, they recognised the two men as from their village.

“They went on, saying that it’s not just hockey but every sport that should keep Dalits out. Then, they took some of their clothes off and started dancing again. It was a caste-based attack,” Shekhar said.

An FIR has now been registered on the basis of the complaint, and one of the accused has also been detained by the police. The SHO of the Sidcul police station has said that their inquiry is on and a case will be filed soon.

Meanwhile, Twitter has been aghast at just how shameful this entire incident is.

https://twitter.com/AnitaReddyIn/status/1423202394184237056?s=20

Also Read: Captain Of Indian Hockey Team, Rani Rampal Says Marriage Can Wait Because She Wants To Do This First

Vandana Katariya is the only Indian female hockey player to have scored a hattrick at the Olympics, and one of our finest forwards. We should be honoured to have such fantastic players on our team. In the words of Barkha Dutt, and several other Indian Tweeple, Wednesday was a watershed moment for us, because even with a Indian men’s cricket match going on, all eyes were on the Indian women’s hockey team as they played Argentina. Imagine being alive for such a moment when for once, India paid the attention that sports other than cricket deserve.

And to think that we don’t appreciate any of that hard work, the struggle, the glory, and patriotism in the truest sense, and are still stuck to these ancient and utterly ridiculous notions of caste and communalism? Have we forgotten that just three months ago, when Vandana Katariya lost her father, she couldn’t even attend his funeral because she was in a social bubble before Tokyo Olympics? And this is how we repay her?

To the politicians calling for progress / vikas, maybe work on getting rid of this insidious caste system first that is the biggest detriment to India’s success on all fronts. It is only holding us back.

But before you do that, the country needs to unanimously apologise to players like Vandana Katariya for reducing them to something as trivial as their caste. We are so sorry, Vandana.

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Jinal Bhatt

A Barbie girl with Oppenheimer humour. Sharp-tongue feminist and pop culture nerd with opinions on movies, shows, books, patriarchy, your boyfriend, everything.

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