New Delhi: PV Sindhu might have won the bronze medal in women’s singles badminton at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, to become the first Indian woman and the second Indian to win two individual medals at the Olympics, but keeping all her achievements aside, some Indians are interested to know only about her caste.
After her historic win, “PV Sindhu caste” became one of the most searched topics on Google about the athlete. On Sunday, Sindhu beat China’s He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-15 to win a bronze medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics Games.
As per a report by News 18, the term was most searched in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana followed by Haryana and Puducherry.
These were some of the related queries when it came to the search term “PV Sindhu caste”, with a query on Sindhu’s caste with a misspelled version of her name ranking second, followed immediately by a query on “Kamma caste”.
This is not the first time that the player’s caste was widely searched online.
In 2016 as PV Sindhu prepared to take on world number one Carolina Marin in the gold medal match of women’s Badminton singles at Rio Olympics, Indians poured in wishes for her in thousands. There was, however, a completely different concern that plagued the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana which likely prompted a Google search for Sindhu’s caste.
‘PV Sindhu caste’ was a highly-searched term, peaking on August 20, 2016, after she won the silver medal in the finals. That year too, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Haryana were the top three states where the phrase was searched for.
Sindhu’s mother Vijayalaxmi had then said, “My girl is an Indian first and request all to enjoy this moment of triumph and look forward to many more such achievements”.
It is high time that Indians start appreciating people for their merit and look beyond surnames and caste. The discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, gender, etc plagues the nation, we can do and be better.