Calling the incident a”shameful act”, Rani Rampal, captain of India’s women’s hockey team, said in a press conference, “We give it our all, sacrifice a lot, struggle a lot to represent our country. However, when we see that this is what is happening to our respective families back home, for example, what happened to Vandana’s family…I just want to tell people to stop doing all these things – religious attacks, casteism.”
While Rampal was one of the very few sportspersons who condemned the attack, no one from ministers to sports authorities spoke up against the casteist attack on Katariya’s family, as pointed out by several Twitter users.
Is that unfortunate? Yes. Are we surprised? No.
From casteist and sexual harassment of boxer Thulasi Helen to name-calling of Vinod Kapri to racial discrimination allegations by a West Indian cricketer Daren Samy against Sunrisers Hyderabad teammates, Indian sports heroes have failed to speak out in support, despite many of them voicing their…