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By Archit Mehta
On August 7, Neeraj Chopra’s javelin throw of 87.58m bagged him a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. At the age of 23, Chopra is the youngest-ever Indian gold medalist in an individual event and the only one to have won gold in his Olympic debut.
Shortly after Neeraj won the gold, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M. Scindia congratulated him and wrote, “He exhibited the true Maratha spirit & skill!”
( Link https://twitter.com/JM_Scindia/status/1424004353925345285?s=19)
Since then news outlets have reported about Neeraj’s alleged Maratha lineage including Loksatta, Maharasthra Times, TV9 Hindi, ABP Marathi, and Dainik Jagran. On August 8, Sudarshan News editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke claimed that Neeraj’s ancestors were a part of the javelin battalion under the Maratha army during the 1761 Battle of Panipat.
( Link https://youtu.be/LFMvti7hghM)
A TALE OF TWO HISTORIES
Neeraj Chopra hails from the Ror (pronounced Raud) community. According to The Print, Ror-Marathas are descendants of Maratha soldiers who fought in the 1761 Battle of Panipat. The Rod-Marathas, numbering around 7 lakh, are spread from Karnal to Rohtak and Bhiwani.
Media outlets such as India Today (2012), Hindustan Times (2016) and BBC (2018) and The Indian Express have reported on a section of the Ror community’s belief of their Maratha lineage. Based on our interaction with members of the Ror community, it appears that there are two schools of thought. One section of the community believes that their lineage is closely linked with the Marathas. However, the other including Neeraj’s family doesn’t believe in the Maratha lineage theory. In this article, Alt News has analysed the controversy at hand based on the information in the public domain and inputs from concerned stakeholders.
Read the full story here:- https://www.altnews.in/does-neeraj-chopra-have-maratha-lineage-alt-news-investigation/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=newpost