Wrestlers are protesting again because nothing has been done to resolve their issues, according to Ace India wrestler Bajrang Punia, and the wrestlers are here to save wrestling.
Top Indian wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Dahiya, and Sakshi Malik, staged a sit-in protest in Jantar Mantar in January this year, demanding that Brij Bhushan be removed from the Wrestling Federation of India’s headquarters and the Wrestling Federation of India be disbanded. They accused the organisation and its leader of sexual harassment and mistreatment of wrestlers.
“We have just one issue. The reason for the protest is that nothing has been done so far…We are here to save wrestling. We will sit at 4 pm and talk,” said wrestler Bajrang Punia as he and several other wrestlers headed to Jantar Mantar.
“Yes, absolutely – at Connaught Place Police Station,” he says when asked if a police complaint has been filed.
In January of this year, wrestlers protested against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Bajrang Punia, an Olympic medalist for India, announced on Sunday that the wrestlers will hold a press conference at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to discuss the legal process in their dispute with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
“We are going to do a press conference at 4 pm on Jantar Mantar, we have moved forward now through a legal process and will brief everything there,” Bajrang told ANI.
Following the protest, the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announced in January the formation of a ‘oversight committee’ to investigate allegations made against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), its chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and other coaches. The committee was tasked with submitting a report to the ministry on the matter.
The Oversight Committee is led by Olympic medalist Mary Kom. The Mary Kom-led committee also includes former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former shuttler Trupti Murgunde, SAI member Radhica Sreeman, ex-CEO of the Target Olympic Podium Plan Rajesh Rajagopalan, and CWG gold medalist Babita Phogat.
However, Punia stated earlier in April that the wrestlers will go to court to protest the report of the oversight committee appointed to investigate the matter as well as allegations made by prominent Indian wrestlers against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and its president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.
Speaking to ANI, Punia said, “I read an article in which one of the committee members said that the report has been submitted to the Sports ministry without his signatures. The member also expressed his/her disagreement with the report. If a committee member is not involved in report submission and disagrees with the report, how are we supposed to trust it?”
“We were not even informed that the report was submitted to the ministry,” he added.
Punia also said that WFI should make public the statements given by female wrestlers in a sting operation to a private TV channel if it feels it is innocent and also, people get to decide who is right or wrong.
The wrestler said that they (wrestlers) will start protesting once again and will even go to the high court as soon as possible.
“We have to carry on with our sport, but we will protest and go to the high court as soon as possible,” said Punia.
