Gutta and Nehwal have never gotten along, but now it is getting ugly

It is not uncommon to witness a sense of competition among the players, but the way Jwala Gutta has criticised Saina Nehwal’s decision to join BJP reeks of utter jealousy and nothing else. Notably, Jwala Gutta has been a perennial and outspoken critic of Nehwal.

Soon after joining the BJP, Nehwal said, “Today, I have joined a party that does good things for the country. I am a very hard-working person and I like hard-working persons. I can see that Narendra Modiji works so hard for the country. It will be my good fortune if I can do something for the country working with him. I like keeping interest in politics, she said.” This clearly indicates that she has a motive of serving the nation alike the Prime Minister himself.

This hardly prevented Jwala from taking a swipe at one of the world’s best badminton players. Jwala tweeted questioning the personal choice of Nehwal to join politics, saying, “Pehli baar Suna hai…bewajah khelna shuru kiya aur ab bewajah party join kiya.” She even got trolled on the internet for taking this swipe directed at Nehwal.

https://twitter.com/ippatel/status/1222561489791307776?s=20

Nehwal, who has brought laurels to the nation by bagging Olympic medal and several other international tournaments, cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts towards the field of sports. “Narendra Modi has done a lot for sports as well. Khelo India is a programme in which many players participate. They get the chance to join big academies and then, to play for the country. I get a lot of inspiration from Narendra Sir. I am looking forward that I can do well,” she said.

Saina has inspired millions of people across the world for her dedication while Jwala on the other hand, has had a lacklustre career. Nevertheless, she attributes her unsuccessful career to her decision of sticking to doubles game. She is jealous of Saina for the same reason as she is quite famous. Jwala claims that she could have achieved the same fame and success, if she was a singles player.

According to a report of The Indian Express, “Having chosen doubles in her teens, she has stuck to her guns ever since and though she can groan about everything that shunts out her speciality from the spotlight, she hasn’t – yet – moaned woefully, about how she wishes she had chosen singles.” She had previously even complained about not getting a suitable partner for doubles, she blamed the badminton association for that.

She had even criticised Pullela Gopichand, as he had exposed that Prakash Padukone, along with coach Vimal Kumar and Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) official Viren Rasquinha had encouraged Saina Nehwal to leave Gopichand’s academy in 2014, which left the former shuttler miserable. In her attempt to defend Prakash Padukone and others, she questioned the credibility of Gopichand.

There is also an ideological notion behind the jealousy of Jwala. Jwala Gutta while condemning the attack on students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), had called out to fellow sports-persons to come out and protest against the violence that has consumed society over the CAA and NRC. She said, “The situation is horrible. There is so much violence, people are dying, and it is unlike anything we have ever seen. Such violence should not be tolerated and everyone, no matter what their status in society, should come out and condemn this.” This statement indicates liberal propaganda and explains why she is rattled by the decision of Saina to join the BJP.

As a fellow sportswoman Jwala Gutta must respect Saina’s must respect her decision and personal space. There are no problems in having a bit of jealousy towards a successful person but targeting her is wrong. The way Jwala has been issuing political statements and interviews it will not be surprising if she joins politics too.