How the bitter Volleyball Federation of India feud is hurting India

Subtle politicking and one-upmanship in national sports federations are nothing new in India. Take the latest case of the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI). The body has been rocked by bitter feuding between its president Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar and secretary Ramavtar Jakhar – bickering came to the fore when VFI president Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar announced the holding of the Indian Volleyball League (IVL) for men, women and beach version in June-July and October and the beach version in January 2017.

The league’s announcement triggered a war of words between Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar and Ramavtar Jakhar, with both accusing each other of hijacking the event for their own personal interests. The mudslinging went on even as the VFI president had announced a tie-up with Sportzlive, a Delhi-based sports marketing and branding company.

The seeds of bitterness were sown then and culminated in Ramavtar Jakhar calling a meeting in Chennai with the secretary claiming that he has the support of most state units, which looked a far cry as VFI’s Emergent Executive Committee meeting in Nagpur was attended by 14 state units with four or five units skipping both meetings.

The VFI president has termed the Chennai meeting as ‘illegal’ since neither the president nor the one-third members of the VFI units have requested to call for it. So what does mean is that VFI president Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar is now on a strong footing to run the affairs of the Federation.

The Patiala House Court has recognised the Emergent Executive Committee, presided over by the President, as official. Ramavtar Jakhar did everything possible to scupper the pitch as he moved the Chennai High Court to grant a stay on the Nagpur Emergent Executive Committee meeting but he was in for a disappointment as the Chennai High Court has refused to give stay on the meeting.

Now the body spearheaded by VFI president Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar, decided on its future course of action and agreed to hold its annual general meeting on April 15 at Hotel Inderlok in Dehradun.

The AGM could see Ramavtar Jakhar and his cronies being penalised for their unbecoming act. The antics of Ramavtar Jakhar ensured the need for a new secretary – the post filled up by K. Nandkumar of Karnataka, who has taken up the job on an interim basis.

It is learnt that some state units supporting Ramavtar Jakhar have been suspended and will be replaced by the new state office-bearers. “There was no need for Ramavtar Jakhar to resort to such behaviour. Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar deserves to run the affairs as almost all state units are backing him. This incident has surely dented the reputation of the VFI,” said a VFI official.
One hopes that the ongoing storm in VFI blows over for the betterment of Indian volleyball.