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By:

Ruddhi Phadke

22 September 2024 at 3:47:54 pm

From Scarcity to Sporting Glory

Part - 1 Name: Neeru Dhanda Where: Jind, Haryana Neeru Dhanda’s historic Asian Games triumph is not just a story of sporting excellence, but a reminder of the talent India can unlock when opportunity meets determination. For Neeru, the road to two historic Asian Games gold medals did not begin with sophisticated training facilities, expensive equipment or years of uninterrupted preparation. It began with a borrowed Indian-made gun, a tin used as a makeshift target and a dream that came from a...

From Scarcity to Sporting Glory

Part - 1 Name: Neeru Dhanda Where: Jind, Haryana Neeru Dhanda’s historic Asian Games triumph is not just a story of sporting excellence, but a reminder of the talent India can unlock when opportunity meets determination. For Neeru, the road to two historic Asian Games gold medals did not begin with sophisticated training facilities, expensive equipment or years of uninterrupted preparation. It began with a borrowed Indian-made gun, a tin used as a makeshift target and a dream that came from a small village in Haryana. Her remarkable journey from those humble beginnings to the biggest podium of her career is as much a story about resilience as it is about sporting achievement. The 26-year-old shooter has been making headlines after creating history at the Asian Games. She became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold in the women’s strap shooting event. In the final, she hit 28 of 30 targets, smashing the previous Asian Games record of 24. The next day, she went one step further, winning gold in the mixed team strap event and helping India secure its first-ever gold in the category. Two gold medals in two days made her achievement even more remarkable. Ten days before the tournament, Neeru had spent three-and-a-half weeks in hospital. She had not trained and had been unable to eat for five days. She travelled to Japan without anything close to the preparation an elite athlete would normally expect before a major international competition. Yet she delivered when it mattered most. Hailing from a small village in Haryana, her father is a farmer and her mother is a homemaker. Shooting is an expensive sport, requiring firearms, ammunition, coaching, equipment and regular access to training facilities. Neeru began with an Indian-made gun borrowed from her uncle. With no conventional target available, she used a tin as a makeshift one. The story of how her family learnt about her historic victory is equally striking. On the day of her match, her mother was on her way to collect wheat under the Below Poverty Line ration scheme when she received the news that her daughter had won gold. It is a powerful contrast: on one side, a mother collecting essential food support for her family; on the other, her daughter standing on the biggest sporting podium of her career. And that contrast raises an important question: How many more Neerus are out there? How much talent are we yet to discover simply because the means to nurture it are missing? Neeru’s gold medals are a moment of pride. But more importantly, they should become a moment of purpose.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

Writer: Ruddhi Phadke
Ruddhi Phadke
Nov 29, 2024
2 min read

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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