"By 'Rewarding' Successful Sportswomen, Khaps Just Want To Appropriate Sports"

Jagmati Sangwan, former internatio­nal volleyballer, AIDWA general secretary and the most important anti-khap ­activist in Haryana spoke to Pragya Singh on how the state’s sportswomen swim against the obscurantist tide—and how that’s a triumph in itself:

Khap panchayats are saying they don’t oppose women in sport. Have khaps changed?

Certainly not. In fact, the khaps continue to force women into feudal and patriarchal roles. They’re even more emboldened now as there’s a BJP government. They, however, know that Haryana society is going through a churn and that more women want to participate in sports, often with family support. So, now khaps ‘reward’ successful sportswomen. This is just their way to appropriate sports—the real question is did they ever approach authorities to encourage sports facilities for women? They still say ridiculous things, like how college girls roam around with boys secretly. They are afraid of the fact that girls talk to men on their mobile phones at night. They represent everything in society that is backward.

What would encourage women in sports?

I played volleyball in the eighties. Getting a gold medal then meant the state would reward us with a steel plate, tumbler and bowl. Of course things are very different now; lakhs, even crores are gifted to successful sportswomen. But recently, the Haryana government announced prizes for kabaddi—a male winner would get Rs 1 lakh and a female, Rs 50,000. We wrote to the government about how this violates the equality principle, but they didn’t budge. There is rampant discrimination and abuse of women in sports. Also, sport needs to be handled with a scientific temperament. Sports for the masses is what we need.

Do people feel threatened by sportswomen?

Sport is a gateway to women’s independence. A sportswoman, especially in a field like wrestling and volleyball, must strategise on the field or mat. She does this alone, as an individual. She must know the right and latest techniques, for which our coaches need training—they are often outdated. That is why we get such few medals. Indian women often fail on international platforms for they are under-nourished from early years. The government must intervene in all this—not just give Rs 1 or Rs 2 crore and take credit for victories.

What should the government do instead?

We have only one sports school in Haryana though we claim to be a sports-loving state. There is a shortage of coaches and great pressure to play only during school hours. Mostly, poor families are sending women into sports, where they are taunted, their bodies rebuked. It’s so bad that to get into sport is to humiliate oneself. The girls are doing sport for they see this as their only route to emancipation. And women wrestlers face the worst, for they are tough and well-built. People even refuse to marry wrestlers for they don’t fit the conventional male notion of beauty. These changes are the government’s responsibility too.