Anil Vij slams Manu Bhaker over twitter outburst, seeks apology

CHANDIGARH/AMBALA: Haryana sports minister Anil Vij, on Saturday sought an apology from India’s teen shooting sensation Manu Bhaker for criticising the state government and taking to social media to express her displeasure at not receiving the promised cash reward of Rs 2 crore for winning a gold at 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires

The 16-year-old Bhaker, who won multiple gold in her maiden senior World Cup, Commonwealth Games, had reminded the Haryana sports minister of the promises he had made after her Youth Olympic success in October last year.

Reacting to her tweets, Vij said that Bhaker should have had a word with the sports ministry before taking to social media to criticise the Haryana government. The minister also clarified that the money promised by him will be duly paid to her. “Manu Bhaker should have first confirmed it from the Sports Deptt. before going to public domain (sic). It is disgusting to denounce a State Govt which is giving highest awards in the Country. Bhaker will get 2 crores as tweeted by me and as per notification at that time,” he tweeted on Saturday.

“There should be some sense of discipline in players. Bhaker should feel sorry for creating this controversy. She has a long way to go. She should focus on her game only,” the minister said in another tweet.

Manu, who hails from Jhajjar, had on Friday posted screenshots of Vij’s October 10 tweets in which he had promised Rs 2 crore cash award on behalf of the Haryana government. At the time, Vij had tweeted, “Congratulations to Manu Bhaker for winning shooting gold in Youth Olympics.” “Haryana government will give a cash prize of Rs 2 crore to Manu Bhaker for winning this gold. Previous governments used to pay Rs 10 lakh only.”

To remind Vij of his promise, Bhaker had tweeted: “Sir Please confirm if it is correct... Or just jumla… (sic).” The teenage shooting star had also lashed out at the Haryana government, saying someone in the government had been playing games with the prize money announced for the Youth Olympics medal winners from the state.

When contacted, Manu’s father Ram Kishan Bhaker, who is a chief engineer in the Merchant Navy, said on Saturday that she used the social media platform because no one was listening to her plea.

“They were not picking up calls. We had even tried to contact Vij sir, but there was no response. We didn’t have any option left, apart from going to twitter,” Bhaker senior told TOI.

“We are also thankful to Anil Vij that he has stood by his words over the cash reward. However, I am still shocked by this attitude of the government. This is not fair,” he added.

Rival parties also jumped into the row on Saturday and attacked BJP. Opposition leaders Chitra Sarwara of Congress and Jannayak Janata Party’s Vivek Chaudhary Lalana on Saturday defended the shooter and said Vij’s attack on the player was “reflective of BJP’s mindset about women”.

Haryana unit in charge of Aam Aadmi Party Navin Jahind also attacked the sports minister over his reactions. “Manu had a phenomenal year in 2018 as she had won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Gold Coast, a Youth Olympics gold in Buenos Aires. She is not only pride of Haryana, she had made our country proud so many times. Anil Vij should mind his language and he should apologize to Manu Bhaker. She is national hero and these kinds of comments are disheartening and can break morale of the athlete,” he added.