New Delhi: Olympian turned sports minister Rajyavardhan Rathore has been sucked into controversy over an attempt by his ministry to count the medals India won at international sports events under NDA rule separately from those won during the UPA's tenure.
The various sports federations in the country have received an email titled "Information sought by MOS Sports office" that asks for "the no. of medal(s) won by India in the international events during the last four years" and "if a comparison is made with medal(s) won by India during UPA govt time".
Posting a screenshot of the email, the former minister of state for information and broadcasting, Manish Tewari, has said: "Isn't this blatant politicisation of sports? Sportspersons win medals for India, not NDA/BJP or UPA! Very Shameful."
Rathore drew flak from his own stable, with suspended BJP parliamentarian and cricketer Kirti Azad using Tewari's tweet to press the point.
"We represented our country not a political party. Which party you were representing... when you won the #Silver in #Olympics? What a shame! Manish Tewari I fully endorse your views," Azad tweeted.
Rathore bagged India's first-ever individual silver, in double trap shooting, at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Azad is the only sportsman yet to have spoken up about the "politicisation'' although Tewari sought to persuade more of them to do so in his second tweet on the subject.
"Dear Kirti Azad MP, you & other eminent sportspersons need to speak up in unison against it. Is sports also going to be polarised into us & them like what has happened to every aspect of our society in past 4 years, especially the media? Either you are with us or against us syndrome.''
Rathore has himself said not a word on the controversy, presumably hoping it would die down for want of attention.
Sports ministry officials said it was a routine email, sent out not by the minister but by staff as part of an exercise to prepare for the Narendra Modi government's fourth anniversary next month, and to help with drawing up the general election manifesto.
Rathore, however, did try to give the Prime Minister some of the credit for India's medal tally at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
"Sports in India now has the passion and direct support of our PM @narendramodi ji who believes in the power of sports to empower our youth," he tweeted on Monday afternoon.
This isn't the first time India has done well at the Commonwealth Games. In 2010, at the scam-tainted Games in Delhi, India came second with a haul of 101 medals, including 38 gold.
Four years later, at Glasgow, India came fifth with a haul of 64 medals, including 15 gold.
Close to halfway through the current Games, India is at third position with a tally of 19, including 10 gold.
