Chennai: Irked by the "step-motherly treatment" meted out to the Indian hockey players by the central and four state governments, the team members have decided to go on a 'hunger strike'.
Chief Coach of the national team Joaquim Carvalho was peeved that while title victory of his wards in the Asia Cup was ignored, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and the state governments of Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Karnataka announced cash awards for the cricketers for winning the Twenty20 World Championship.
"Why our hockey players are being treated like orphans and why our politicians are biased against hockey, the national game?" Carvalho asked.
Carvalho said, "we are grateful ever to the President of India for her sending individual letters congratulating the hockey players for their Asia Cup win, without losing a match."
He said a coach and four players had planned to go on hunger strike before the Karnataka Chief Minister's house to protest announcement of Rs 5 lakh cash award each for the members of the cricket team, while "treating the State hockey players like dust".
Carvalho said, "The Karnataka CM till date has not congratulated hockey players from the state for the Asia Cup win".
"Coach Ramesh Parameswaran, manager RK Shetty and four players (Vikram Kanth, VR Rahunath, SV Sunil and Ignace Tirkey) are to go on hunger strike before the Chief Minister's house," he said.
Carvalho said, "When KPS Gill announced Rs 1,000 as bonus for every goal that was scored, many people in authority, including a few politicians made a hue and cry and ridiculed the (Indian Hockey) Federation".
"In fact, there is a competition going on between politicians and state governments in announcing cash prizes galore for cricketers", Carvalho said.
But "when hockey is the national game and when we have won a big tournament like Asia Cup, why these governments and politicians have not recognised our triumph and instead are showing bias?", he asked.
Stating that he and the entire hockey team had congratulated Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his World Cup win, he said: "I am not against cricket or cricket players".
"Every sportsperson needs to be recognised. The cricket players deserve the cash awards, no doubt, but are not the hockey players deserving to be treated in the same manner?"
As for Punjab and Haryana Governments' cash awards to cricketers, Carvalho wanted to know whether these states show same 'gratitude' to its hockey players - Sardar Singh, Baljit Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Shivendra Singh and Rajpal Singh.
On the Civil Aviation Minister's decision to give cash awards and out-of-turn promotion to cricketers in Air India and Indian Airlines, Carvalho wondered whether the Minister knew that these organisations has hockey players in their pay rolls.
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