Updated May 30th, 2023 at 16:03 IST
Protesting wrestlers say they will immerse medals in the Ganga
'We will throw our medals in river Ganga today at 6 pm,' say wrestlers who are protesting against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment.
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Wrestlers, who are protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, on Tuesday threatened to immerse their medals in river Ganga in Uttarakhand's Haridwar. Taking to social media, wrestlers in a letter said that the system and the police were treating them as culprits while the alleged accused has been roaming scot-free.
In the letter, the wrestlers said, "We will immerse our medals in river Ganga. Our medals are as sacred as Mother Ganga. The right place for our medals is in Ganga and not with the government which stands with the culprit."
— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) May 30, 2023
"The medals have no meaning anymore and are only being used as a mask for propaganda by the system. It was killing us just thinking of returning them, but what use is a life lived compromising on your self-respect," the letter read. The wrestlers further said they wondered to who they would return the medals. "The President, who is a woman herself, sat barely two kilometres away and watched the turmoil. She did not say anything," the wrestlers said explaining why they did not feel like returning medals to the President.
The letter further mentioned, "Women wrestlers are feeling there is nothing left for us in this country. We are recalling the moments when we won the Olympics and World Championships. Now, it feels like why did we even win? Did we win to let our government treat us as culprits while the alleged oppressor is roaming freely?"
Sakshi Malik, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics, said in a statement on her Twitter handle that the wrestlers will go to Haridwar on Tuesday to immerse the medals into the holy river at 6 pm. "These medals are our life and soul. We are going to throw them in the Ganges. After that there is no point in living, so we will sit on a hunger strike until death at India Gate," she said in the statement written in Hindi.
#LIVE | 'We will throw our medals in river Ganga today at 6pm,' say Wrestlers who are protesting against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations.#ProtestingWrestlers #WrestlersProtest #NewDelhi #WFI #BrijBhushanSharanSingh https://t.co/6CjsNJaatY pic.twitter.com/kjUkn3ONY5
— Republic (@republic) May 30, 2023
Wrestlers further said that Brij Bhushan Singh was at the inauguration of the new parliament building in dazzling white clothes, getting pictures clicked. "This white was stinging in our eyes as if it was saying I am the system," they said.
The wrestlers' move comes a day after the action by Delhi police against them (wrestlers) as they marched towards the new Parliament building. Unprecedented scenes of police dragging Olympic and world championships medallists, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat, were witnessed when the wrestlers and their supporters allegedly breached the security cordon during their march towards the new Parliament building for the planned women's 'Mahapanchayat'.
On Monday, India's first individual Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra denounced the police action against the country's top wrestlers at Jantar Mantar, saying the "horrifying images" had left him "sleepless" and "haunted". The wrestlers, protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23, are demanding the arrest of outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly sexually harassing several women wrestlers, including a minor.
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Published May 30th, 2023 at 13:39 IST
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