Jammu, Dec 14 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir unit of the BJP on Sunday demanded resignation of Sports Minister Satish Sharma, alleging discrimination against the Jammu region in the selection of the squad for the Santosh Trophy football tournament.
Alleging an “illegal and discriminatory” selection process, J&K BJP spokesperson Rajni Sethi said, “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, J&K has been assured equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal development for all regions. However, the National Conference government continues to repeatedly hurt the sentiments of the youth of Jammu through biased and discriminatory policies.”
The charge was, however, rejected by the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council, which dismissed the allegations as misleading and defended the selection as merit-based and transparent.
Training guns at the Sports minister, Sethi said that the people of Jammu had high expectations from Sharma, as he belongs to Jammu.
“Unfortunately, the minister has followed the same discriminatory approach of the NC government, shattering the trust of the people of Jammu,” she said in a statement, alleging that all players from Jammu were rejected and only players from Kashmir were selected.
A Sports Council official said, “The players for the Santosh Trophy were selected in a process lasting more than one-and-a-half months. In the absence of the J&K Football Association due to non-conduct of elections, the Sports Council has been raising the teams in coordination with the All India Football Federation for the past two years and has ensured merit-based and transparent selection.”
First, the official told PTI, the Council holds the divisional level trial – separately for Kashmir and Jammu divisions – under the supervision of separate selection committees, followed by final selection by a different panel comprising members from both regions.
The trial for the Santosh trophy was simultaneously conducted in Jammu and Srinagar for three days from November 15 to 17, the Sports Council said.
“While 74 players participated in Jammu and 18 of them were shortlisted by the coaches for the final trial, 194 players turned up for trial in Srinagar, and 33 among them were shortlisted. The final trial was held for three days from November 19 to 21 in Jammu, as the government decided to carry out maximum activities in Jammu, where no football matches could take place in the past two years,” the official said.
Out of 51 players, 32, including eight from the Jammu region, were shortlisted for the residential coaching camp in Jammu from November 21. The camp continued till December 12, and the selection committee finally selected 23 players, including four from Jammu, for the team to represent J&K in the Santosh Trophy, the official said.
He said one of the boys from Jammu could not join due to some examination, while another is joining the team in the coming days.
Further, the official said, the government is planning a Jammu super league in the coming months to provide an opportunity to the youngsters to hone their skills in the absence of club culture in the region.
As part of the government policy, he said Council’s secretary Nuzhat Gul ordered holding of all winter camps in the Jammu region. “We recently held a camp for the under-19 girls team, and all the 14 players were selected from the Jammu region based on their performance.”
