Manu Bhaker’s old ‘jumla’ swipe at BJP leader viral after winning bronze medal at Paris Olympics
Olympian Manu Bhaker’s old tweets reminding then Haryana sports minister Anil Vij of a ₹2 crore cash reward promise went viral on Sunday after she won a historic bronze medal in the 10m air pistol event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In October 2018, Manu Bhaker became the first Indian shooter to win gold at Youth Olympics.
After her historic win, Vij tweeted, “Congratulations to Manu Bhaker for winning shooting gold in Youth Olympics.”
“Haryana government will give a cash prize of ₹2 crore to Manu Bhaker for winning this gold. Previous governments used to pay ₹10 lakh only,” he said in another post.
On January 4, 2019, almost three months after the announcement of monetary reward, shooter posted screenshots of Vij’s tweet and said, “Sir Please confirm if it is correct… Or just Jumla (sic).”
Bhaker also felt that someone in the Haryana government was playing “games” with the money that was to be awarded to the medallists.
Anil Vij demanded apology from the ace shooter disapproving the manner in which she had expressed her displeasure at not receiving the promised cash reward. He said Bhaker should have first confirmed it from the sports department before airing her issue in the public domain.
The minister said it was “disgusting” to denounce a state government which was giving the highest monetary awards in the country. He asserted that Bhaker will get ₹2 crore as announced by him.
Vij also called for “some sense of discipline” in players, saying Bhaker should feel sorry for creating the controversy.
“She has a long way to go. She should focus on her game only,” he tweeted,
Social media users dug up the bitter exchange between the two after Bhaker clinched bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also posted the screenshots of Anil Vij’s tweet condemning Bhaker’s move of going public and said, “Shamelessly will now seek to take credit any minute for her bronze win at the #ParisOlympics2024”
