Former players back Dilip Tirkey in protest at Major Dhyan Chand Stadium

Former Indian hockey players backed Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey and staged a protest at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on Friday, calling for urgent reform within the federation. The group gathered outside Gate No. 7 after being denied permission to express dissent inside the venue.

The demonstrators included prominent former players, with Zafar Iqbal, V. Baskaran and Ashok Kumar named as members of the group though they did not attend the protest. Olympians Vineet Kumar and Romeo James, who were part of the Indian team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, were among those present, and former India women’s captain Asunta Lakra also joined the action.

The internal dispute surfaced publicly on September 12 when Director General Cdr. R.K. Srivastava was stripped of all his powers and asked to explain "repeated instances of non-compliance with Tirkey’s directives." HI accused Srivastava of travelling to the recent World Cup in the Netherlands and Belgium despite a directive from Tirkey that he should not go.

Tensions grew further when Srivastava accompanied secretary general Bhola Nath Singh to Chandigarh for the formal announcement of the men’s Asian Champions Trophy while Tirkey was meeting Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in New Delhi. An emergent Executive Board meeting on September 18 was then called by Bhola Nath without Tirkey’s sanction.

Asunta Lakra, who took part in the protest, had earlier accused Bhola Nath of intimidating her with consequences after she raised objections to alleged harassment of young girls in Jharkhand. Her participation added a vocal element to the former players’ demonstration outside the stadium.

The dissenting group’s principal demand is the formation of an ad-hoc committee to run Hockey India until the next elections, to include former players, a retired judge or legal luminary and an observer from the sports ministry or the Sports Authority of India. Pramod Batlaw, a member of the silver-winning team at the 1978 Asian Games, said it was paramount for HI to be cleaned up and added: "There are people in HI who don’t know anything about the sport. They want to send Tirkey out and take all the powers," he told The Hindu.

The protesters have formally called for the ad-hoc committee to assume control of HI’s affairs until the next elections, reflecting the group’s demand for an interim governance structure pending a formal electoral process.