On 11th July, Chairman of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Jan Jagrukta Manch Analp Chandra shared an old report claiming archer Deepika Kumari was not recognized by the government because of her caste.
In an unwarranted tweet that he claimed to have copied from somewhere, he wrote in Hindi, “The caste is not going away from India. How much Manuputra hates Dalits and tribals? Dalit daughter of India, Deepika Kumari, has brought glory to the country. Till now, if it was a girl from an upper caste family instead of Deepika, there would have been an influx of accolades, but there is silence in India. My brother, the daughter of our country, has won three Gold in the World Archery Championship being held in Paris. Now Deepika is not an upper caste, the media of this country is full of Manuvadi, and that’s why they look at caste first. But why are you silent? You should roar!! Deepika won Gold for India in the World Archery Championships, in which 55 countries were involved. Hearty Congratulations. Jai Bhim.”
भारत में जाति है कि जाती नहीं
— Analp chandra (@analp_chandra) July 11, 2023
दलितों आदिवासियों से कितनी नफ़रत है मनुपुत्र को, देश की एक दलित बिटिया दीपिका कुमारी ने देश का नाम रोशन किया है।
अब तक दीपिका के जगह कोई सवर्ण परिवार की लड़की होती तो को बधाईयों का ताँता लग जाता लेकिन भारत में सन्नाटा पसरा हुआ है।
अरे भई देश की… pic.twitter.com/aBj9ysW4OQ
Chandra did not bother to check if Deepika was recognized by the government of India or if the reports were recent or not.
First of all, the tournament Chandra was talking about took place in 2021 and not in 2023. As per reports, Deepika won three gold medals in the Archery World Cup Stage-3 and led India to the top honor in women’s team, mixed team, and women’s individual events. The media well documented the reports on the event.
Deepika, who gave birth to a baby girl in December 2022, returned to training only 20 days later but failed to secure a place in the Indian archery team for the Asian games after securing a ninth position in the trials in February 2023. She is preparing for the open trials scheduled for January next year for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Due to her pregnancy, Deepika was away from the field for a few months and on the path to recovery. In a recent Instagram post, she was seen practicing.
Now coming to the recognition part where Chandra claimed the Government of India discriminates against Deepika because of her ‘caste’. Though there is no place for caste, race, color and religion, etc., in sports, for the sake of argument, if we take the example of Deepika Kumari, there has been not even an iota of evidence that there was any discrimination.
In 2016, Deepika received Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award, for her contributions to the field of sports. Earlier in 2012, she received Arjuna Award.
In 2016, PM Modi had met Deepika Kumari and had wished her best for the Rio Olympics.
We know about the very talented Deepika Kumari. She participated in London 2012 & will again do so in Rio. Good luck pic.twitter.com/NdzvKJaOjp
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 4, 2016
In 2021, before the Tokyo Olympics, PM Modi interacted with Deepika and other athletes. After the Olympics, although Deepika had failed to secure a medal, PM Modi met her and other sportspersons in a breakfast meet and encouraged them.
After her 3 gold medal performance in Paris in June 2021, PM Modi tweeted to congratulate her.
The last few days have witnessed stupendous performances by our archers at the World Cup. Congratulations to @ImDeepikaK, Ankita Bhakat, Komalika Bari, Atanu Das and @archer_abhishek for their success, which will inspire upcoming talent in this field.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 29, 2021
Did Chandra ‘copy’ the post?
Chandra claimed that he had copied the post from somewhere. OpIndia looked into the claim and found that he was not lying. On Twitter, we found the text being used in a post by Yadav Ekta Manch that was published on 8th July.
On Facebook, we spotted an old post from Tolaram Nayak, who published the exact same text on 8th July. It was published an hour after Yadav Ekta Manch published it on Twitter.
While it is true that Chandra copied the post, being a responsible person (calls himself a social media influencer on Twitter) from a marginalized community and having decent followership on social media, it was his responsibility to confirm if the allegations he was leveling were true or not. His post came at a time when the country is gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
