Chandigarh: Boxing champion Saweety Boora Sunday made a pitch for Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Haryana chief minister while castigating the current BJP-led state government’s sports policy at a Congress event meant to felicitate Boora in Hisar.
Boora, who hails from Hisar’s Ghirai village, last month won gold at the Women’s World Boxing Championship 2023 held in New Delhi and became world champion after defeating Wang Lina of China, 4–3, in the light heavyweight category.
Addressing the gathering Sunday while on stage with Hooda, who was Haryana CM from 2005 to 2014, Boora said: “Today, if I am standing in front of you as a world champion, it is all because of Hooda saab’s policies.”
“As a child, I used to hear about sportspersons from our area becoming deputy superintendent of police (DSP) or an inspector in the Haryana Police and getting a lot of award money from the government for winning a medal in international events. Hooda saab, who is today sitting among us, had made such policies that inspired a whole generation of people like me to take up sports,” she added.
Boora further said that ever since Hooda’s term as CM had ended and “another government” had come to power, sports in Haryana had witnessed “a downslide”.
After Hooda, BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar had won power in the 2014 Haryana state election and is currently serving his second term in the state. He also holds charge of the state’s sports department.
“When Hooda was in power, not only sportspersons but all sections of society including farmers were happy. But now everyone is despondent and unhappy with the (incumbent) government,” Boora asserted.
“Over these (last) 10 years, you must have seen how this other government has worked. You must have been fed up like us sportspersons. Keep all this in mind. Vote Hooda saab to power and don’t waste your vote this time,” Boora said at the event.
Hooda, for his part, announced that “Boora would be made a DSP in Haryana” if he was voted to power. Haryana is due for Assembly elections in late 2024.
Hooda slams Khattar govt
On 30 March, CM Khattar had handed over offer letters for Group B posts (senior coach in the sports and youth affairs department), and cheques worth Rs 40 lakh each to Boora and Nitu Ghanghas, Haryana’s other gold medallist at the boxing event.
However, despite cash and job offers to medal winners, the Khattar government’s sports policy has long been a punching bag for the opposition.
ThePrint had reported that the government has mainly faced flak for not honouring medal-winning sportspersons with “good jobs” and money the way it was done earlier.
Addressing the public at Sunday’s event, where other Congress leaders, sportspersons and coaches were also in attendance, Hooda said that when he was the Haryana CM, policies had been formulated to encourage the youth towards sports.
“Under the ‘Padak Lao, Pad Pao’ (bring medals, get jobs) policy, the Haryana government had felicitated over 750 sportspersons by giving them direct appointment to government posts. Under the sports policy, players were given appointments to higher posts like DSP. A 3 per cent quota was also allotted to sportspersons in Group C and Group D jobs so that the youth participating in sports do not feel insecure about their livelihood,” the former CM said, adding that if the Congress was voted back to power, it would bring back these policies.
Hooda further alleged that “the BJP-JJP (alliance) government led by CM Khattar has taken away the sportsperson’s right to senior posts (of DSP) in the Haryana Police”.
“The government is not maintaining sports stadiums that were built in every village during the Congress tenure. Due to our policies, youth from Haryana were bringing medals when those from Punjab were being driven to drugs,” he said, adding that “it seems that this government wants to turn Haryana’s youth into drug addicts and not sportspersons”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also read: 11 fewer gold than 2022, 9 less in total — how Haryana lost Khelo India top spot to Maharashtra