The wrestler’s protests of 2023 were one of the major events of the country for the year.
Spanning months and gaining not just national but even international coverage of how three Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malikkh led the protests against the former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Saran Singh after he was accused of sexually harassing many female wrestlers.
However, in a twist of events, it seems that some young wrestlers are now coming out in protest of these same wrestlers alleging that they lost out on one year of their career due to them.
What Is Happening?
According to reports, hundreds of junior wrestlers collected at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Wednesday to protest against a loss of a crucial year in their career.
Out of them, around 300 came from the Arya Samaj Akhara in Chhaprauli, Baghpat, while some others were from the Virender Wrestling Academy in Narela.
Reports said that many of them remained sitting in the buses and waited for more wrestlers to arrive at the site before starting the protests. The protests were seen carrying banners that had slogans like ‘UWW save our wrestling from these 3 wrestlers’.
STORY | Fresh protest erupts in Indian wrestling; this time against Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh
READ: https://t.co/7aWeYtS2zp
VIDEO: pic.twitter.com/5BVNKsw5Bc
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 3, 2024
Read More: Who Is Sanjay Singh, Whose Victory As WFI Chief Is Gross Injustice To Women Wrestlers In India?
Sakshi Malik speaking to the media addressed this and called it propaganda saying, “We knew Brij Bhushan (Sharan Singh) is influential, but we had no idea he would be this powerful. Now, his propaganda is to make allegations that we have been grabbing young wrestlers’ opportunities. However, now that I have retired, I want young girls to win and fulfil my dream.”
VIDEO | "We knew Brij Bhushan (Sharan Singh) is influential, but we had no idea he would be this powerful. Now, his propaganda is to make allegations that we have been grabbing young wrestlers' opportunities. However, now that I have retired, I want young girls to win and fulfill… pic.twitter.com/YwTMHRsfYf
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 3, 2024
Malik was also quoted saying “I have given years of my life to wrestling and retired recently so you can tell how stressed I am mentally. There is an IT cell of Brij Bhushan on social media. These protestors are his people and running propaganda for him. Brij Bhushan was making allegations against us earlier too during the protest.”
She further went on to allege that her mother had been getting disturbing calls stating “For the past 2-3 days, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s goons have been active. My mother is getting threatening phone calls. Our safety is the government’s responsibility.”
Sakshi Malik in a tearful press conference after the WFI election results came out on 21st December 2023 announced her retirement from the sport.
Her statements believed that there was no justice as the winner of the presidency of WFI was Sanjay Singh, one of Singh’s close associates and even other major positions in the federation were won by Singh loyalists and supporters.
Bajrang Punia also returned his Padma Shri award which he left on the road after he was stopped by the police from meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi face to face.
On 30th December Vinesh Phogat did the same when she India’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna, and Arjuna awards on Kartavya path after she too was not allowed to meet the PM to return it personally.
As per Phogat, the awards did not have any meaning and value when the wrestlers were finding it so hard to get justice.
Soon after the WFI elections and the questions the winner brought up, the sports ministry swiftly acted out and suspended the newly elected WFI claiming that there was “blatant disregard for the established legal and procedural norms”. This is the second time they’ve suspended the WFI and currently an ad-hoc committee is in place running the federation operations.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Hindu, Livemint, NDTV
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This post is tagged under: Indian Wrestlers, Bajrang Punia, Brij Bhushan, commonwealth games, Olympics, Sakshi Malik, Sanjay Singh, vinesh phogat, WFI, WFI elections, wrestling, Wrestling Federation of india, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh wfi, Indian Olympic Association, indian Wrestler Protest, Sanjay Singh WFI, Sanjay Singh wfi election, vinesh phogat, WFI, wfi election, WFI Election results, Wrestlers protest, wrestlers protests Jantar Mantar, Wrestling Federation
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