New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) Congress member Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday sought to know if the government had taken cognisance of the statements made by some sportspersons after the Tokyo Olympics last year and what steps were taken on the feedback received from them.
BJP member Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore hit back at Gogoi, saying while Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a morale boost to sportspersons during the Olympics by meeting them and making phone calls in between, the sole Olympic medallist in 2004 does not even have a picture with the then prime minister Manmohan Singh.
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India had won only one medal at the Olympics games in 2004 in Athens, Greece. Rathore himself had brought home the silver medal in shooting.
Speaking during a calling attention motion in Lok Sabha on promoting sports in India, Gogoi also sought to know whether the prime minister had received multiple requests for renaming the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, to Narendra Modi Stadium.
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“While renaming the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the prime minister had said he had received a lot of requests for it. I want to know if the prime minister also received a lot of requests for renaming the Sardar Patel Cricket Stadium to the Narendra Modi Stadium,” Gogoi said.
The Congress leader said the government did not show sensitivity to the statements made by sportspersons Aditi Ashok and Manika Batra during the Tokyo Olympics last year.
India’s table tennis star Manika Batra had spoken about fictitious relationships between coaches and the association, while golfer Aditi Ashok had said that her hotel was very far away from the golf course in Tokyo.
“Have you taken cognisance of the statements made,” Gogoi asked.
The Congress member also said that politicians should learn from sportspersons and be humble in victory and courageous in defeat.
Rathore said the Modi government has taken several measures to support sportspersons, including providing training and financial support to encourage youngsters undertaking sports activities.
He said that promoting sports would also help tackle the menace of drug addiction.
Shyam Singh Yadav of the BSP regretted that neither the sports minister nor the ministry was looking into the implementation of the sports code. He also said that sports ministry officials were “very arrogant” and did not respond to letters written by Members of Parliament.
Yadav also accused the National Rifle Association of India of corruption.
He suggested that Rathore, an Olympic medallist himself, should be made the sports minister as he can handle the ministry better.
Certain remarks made by Yadav against the sports minister evoked a sharp reaction from the treasury benches and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who was chairing the proceedings of the House, said the Speaker would look into the BSP member’s comments and take an appropriate decision.
Gautham Sigamani Pon of the DMK suggested that the government should allocate more funds for rural and non-Olympic games.
He also said that the sports ministry should try to settle the disputes between federations, which often fight cases in courts impacting sporting activities.
Maddila Gurumoorth of the YSRCP said the government should encourage corporates to contribute towards development of sports.
Gajanan Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena asked the government to exempt the sports federations from income tax.
NCP member Supriya Sule said the idea of “one-district, one-sports” is not good and there is a need to develop sports universities which can provide opportunities for sports in different disciplines.
Hasnain Masoodi of the NC asked the government to focus on the development of sports infrastructure and affordable accommodation.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)