Victim Of India's Sports Racism - Manipuri Monika Dumped

Professor Naorem Sanajaoba *

Indian Olympics managerial authority in their most blatant, explicit outburst of racism against the native Manipuris of India, had successfully hatched a conspiracy to disallow a Manipuri woman - Laisharm Monika Devi from participation in the Beijing Olympics, by way of making highly orchestrated and well organised false allegations of doping against Monika on August 3 last and denying their own cooked up allegation on August 9 this year.

Possibly, certain interested quarters are likely to move the UN and other international bodies or, the IOC to start with, to ban Indian participation in subsequent Olympics on the grounds of India practising racism like South Africa which also had been banned from Olympics participation. It may or may not succeed, yet the move is in the offing. The move is liley to get momentum in course of time.

The hard facts are :

1. International weightlifter N. Kunjarani Devi had been denied Olympics participation in the past in order to accommodate Malleshwari. International experts later on published in Journals that Manipur lifter Kunjarani has a better edge than Malleswari. The racial conspiracy had succeeded in putting down Kunjarani on hidden racial grounds.

Covert Indian racism is more dangerous than official Apartheid of South Africa. In nearly all fields, racial discrimination had been meticulously meted out to the Manipuris by the Indian echelons.

Rishang Keishing - a congress MP of Nehru era of the early 1950s who ought to have been made either the PM or president of India, MP of the upper house even today had never been considered for any top slot, thereby making his junior most and most inexperienced ones as PM or President of India, purely on grounds of hidden racial discrimination. Politics and sports go together in cover racism that India has evolved successfully.

South Africa had to undergo banishment from Tokyo Olympics 1964 till it had been lifted at Barcelona Olympics 1992 for inducting racism in Sports and Politics, as India does to Monika of Manipur today.

IOC president J.A. Samaranch spoke on 19th March, 1991 that the IOC would lift the ban on South Africa if the latter dismantles apartheid in both sports and politics, after his assessment of what he called " political and sports situation".

He imposed a condition in what he called representation of the "multiracial federation". Indian conspiracy against Manipuri sportsperson Monika bears the same stamp of deep-rooted Indian racism.

2. A repeat has been found in the case of Monika. Just before her boarding the Beijing flight, Monika had been told that she had been dropped from Olympics participation on framed up charged of doping. The sports racists had insulted her in the unprecedented way.

India's National Commission on Woman is silent till date. The SAI and the IWF later on swallowed their own fabricated charges when Manipur CM Ibobi Singh intervened and caught hold of the facless racial–fascist culprits posing as noblemen in the IOA and the IWF.

Even their[read our] Prime Minister did not find favour with the meticulously hatched conspiracy that took shape on June 6, 2008.

3. Possibly CBI inquiry and a proposed inquiry by a judge of the Supreme Court of India may be on the cards. Public figure in Manipur had urged upon the culprits in SAI and IOA to personally pay a compensation of not less than 25 crore rupees for the physical, mental damage done to the Victim- Monika.

She insisted that IOA, Indian team be banned from participation in future Olympics as much as racial South Africa had been banned for practising racism. However, Indian Human Rights Bodies are silent on Indian racism in regard to Manipuris.

Meanwhile, at the political level Indian annexation of sovereign Manipur in 1949 had been disputed by scholars. The Monika episode might give a turn to the political landscape of Manipur in the same way as the assassination of the Yugoslav prince at Sarajevo in 1917 culminated to the first world war.

4. How Manipur could be represented in future summer Olympics by surmounting the dreaded and highly institutionalized racialist IOA and IWF of India has been agenda no. 1 of the Manipur sports circle. It could be worked out with international collaboration. Manipur has woken up to Indian racism a bit late though.