Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran courted controversy after she announced plans to float separate sports teams for ‘general’ and Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) players.
She drew flak after she revealed the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s ambition to launch football, handball, basketball and athletics teams through a Facebook post on Sunday.
While such plans that made the civic body the first in the State to have dedicated sports teams would normally have attracted praises, Ms. Rajendran’s idea to form separate men’s and women’s general and SC/ST teams was met with opposition.
Many ridiculed the idea on social media with some even accusing the Mayor of attempting to create caste divisions in sports that are widely regarded to bring together people from various cross-sections.
With her post snowballing into a controversy, Ms. Rajendran took to the social networking platform to issue a clarification on Monday. Blaming certain sections for misinterpreting her comments, the Mayor said the Corporation had been conducting training programmes for students in various sports by utilising general and SC funds in line with government norms.
The allocation of separate funds had provided greater opportunities for students hailing from various categories. The plan to create separate teams was made in a similar vein, she claimed.
