Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday sought o embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his recent phone calls to Indian heroes in Tokyo Olympics by sharing the old tweets by Bajrang Punia and Neeraj Chopra on not being paid the award money despite promises made by the BJP government.
Sharing old tweets by Chopra and Punia, the Congress leader wrote in Hindi, “Players must get their dues along with congratulations. Not that the sports budget should be cut. Enough of phone call videos, now given them the prize money.”
The posts by Chopra shared by Gandhi read, “ML Khattar (Haryana Chief Minister) sir, when we win medals, then the entire country becomes happy. You too say proudly that these athletes are from Haryana. Players from Haryana have left an impression on the global sporting arena. Other states also give examples of Haryana. Please maintain this tradition.”
In another post by Chopra that Gandhi shared, the javelin thrower had written, “And please fulfill the promise that you made to give the cash prize to players so that we can focus on the preparations for the forthcoming Olympic and make our state and the country proud.”
Bajrang Punia, who won a bronze medal in wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics, too was seen criticising the Haryana government for not fulfilling its promise on cash award announced for athletes from the state.
Videos of Modi speaking to Indian men’s hockey captain and Chopra were widely circulated on social media. Many had dubbed it a PR exercise by the BJP. In the first video, Modi was seen speaking to the men’s hockey team captain after India won the bronze medal in Tokyo. This was the first time the Indian men’s hockey team had won a medal since 1980.
In another video, Modi was seen speaking to Chopra after the lad from Haryana created history by becoming the first-ever Indian athlete to win an Olympic Gold medal in athletics.