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HomeIndia'Indians first', says Twitter after Amarinder post on 'Punjab players' in Olympic...

‘Indians first’, says Twitter after Amarinder post on ‘Punjab players’ in Olympic hockey team

Several Twitter users, including politicians from the BJP and AAP, accused Punjab CM of playing 'divisive politics' and putting the state above the nation.

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New Delhi: Social media users hit out at Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh over his tweet congratulating India men’s hockey team players for reaching the semifinals.

In a tweet posted Sunday, the Punjab CM wrote: “Stellar performance by the Indian Men’s Hockey team at Tokyo Olympics to beat Great Britain by 3-1 & entering Olympic top 4 after 41 years. Happy to note that all 3 goals were scored by Punjab players Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh & Hardik Singh. Congratulations…go for Gold! (sic).”

— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 1, 2021

The tweet invited sharp reactions from Twitter users, including politicians from the BJP and AAP, who accused the CM of playing “divisive politics” and putting the state above the nation.

Sharing Singh’s tweet, BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said the players were representing India.

Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Delhi, Naresh Balyan, accused the CM of playing “divisive politics”.

BJP National General Secretary C.T. Ravi also took a dig at Singh, calling him a “CONgress Chief Minister”, while BJP MLA Nilkanth Singh Munda said the tweet is an “outcome of the learnings of Congress party which always believes in divide and rule.”

BJP Karnataka’s official Twitter account also criticised Singh, saying it is unfortunate that the Punjab chief minister “invokes the traditional CONgress divisive agenda in Sports”.

Singh not the only CM to congratulate state’s players

Despite the backlash over his post, Amarinder Singh posted another tweet on 2 August, this time congratulating the India women’s hockey team for their historic win over Australia and “Gurjit Kaur from Amritsar” for scoring the lone goal in the match.

However, Singh isn’t the only chief minister to post tweets congratulating a state’s players’ performance in Olympics. Haryana Chief Minister M.L. Khattar had also congratulated the women’s hockey team, adding that he is proud that nine players in the team, including captain Rani Rampal, were from Haryana.

Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also congratulated “Telugu girl” P.V. Sindhu for winning Bronze at Tokyo Olympics Sunday.

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