She scored the first hat-trick for India in the Olympic Games. She was the highest scorer in the Junior World Cup Hockey Tournament in 2016. She is a proud member of the Indian women’s hockey team that has earned the fourth place in the just concluded Tokyo Olympics. But instead of being proud of her achievements, some self-claimed well-wishers of upper caste people had attacked her on the pretext that she belongs to a lower caste family. They gathered in front of Indian hockey star Vandana Katariya’s house and claimed that India would never be able to win until the lower caste members were removed from the team . They hurled several verbal abuses targeting her family members and even threatened to kill them. They busted crackers and played drums as if they were celebrating India’s defeat. It all happened just after the Indian girls went down fighting against the formidable Argentinian team in the women’s hockey semi-finals. Several persons including the captain of the Indian hockey team Rani Rampal have condemned the incident. On being asked, Vandana, the star Indian forward, lamented over caste discrimination and warned that in the future no one belonging to lower castes would like to play for India if people belonging to upper caste continue to behave in such a manner.
The attack on Vandana Katariya’s house clearly shows how deep-rooted the caste discrimination is in the country. Such discrimination not only threatens to disturb the social fabric of India, but also hampers India’s progress as a modern nation. It is an indication that unscrupulous elements are desperate to end India’s diverse culture as they cannot tolerate the success of the people belonging to the supposed lower class, fearing the end of the hegemony in society. This is why no matter how much people belonging to the ‘lower’ caste contribute towards making the nation proud, they are often subjected to harassment instead of being rewarded. Vandana Katariya is just another addition to this long list. The only difference is that as she is a sportsperson of international repute, the police acted swiftly and arrested two persons. Otherwise, more often than not people belonging to ‘lower’ castes get no justice.
But, this is not merely a law and order problem. This is a social problem and this problem has existed in India for several decades. The teachings of the religious books, social reformers as well as several laws that have been made to safeguard the people from lower caste since Independence, have failed to change the situation. Till now, there are many villages in India where the lower caste people are not allowed to fetch potable water from the same well that the upper caste people use. As no combined movement has been launched cutting across all barriers, caste discrimination is continuing in the country. It is earning a bad name for India, a country known for its diversity. So the matter should not be swept under the carpet. Rather, exemplary punishment should be given to the culprits so that in future no one dares to repeat such acts in our society.