The Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party threw their weight behind the wrestlers who have been protesting against the appointment of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's confidant Sanjay Singh as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India.
Olympic medallists Sakshee Malikkh and Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and other wrestlers had launched an agitation against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexually harassing women grapplers. The matter is in court.
Sanjay Singh, a loyalist of BJP MP and former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was elected WFI president on Thursday, which triggered outrage among wrestlers and prompted Malikkh to announce her retirement from the sport.
Punia returned his Padma Shri to the government in protest against Singh's election. He posted a letter on X after making an attempt to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament but was stopped at Kartavya Path by the Delhi Police.
UP Wrestling Association vice-president Sanjay Singh won 40 votes as against seven of his rival and 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran. Prem Chand Lochab was elected secretary general. The wrestlers had demanded that no close associate of Brij Bhushan should enter the WFI.
On Friday, Malikkh and Bajrang Punia met Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who assured them of support in every way in their fight for justice.
Gandhi said women wrestlers who have brought glory to the country from across the world had accused a BJP parliamentarian of sexual exploitation, but the saffron party's government did not take any action against him. The BJP is still standing with the accused and is rewarding him in every way, Priyanka Gandhi said
Congress leader Deepender Hooda accompanied the wrestlers when they went to meet Gandhi. He earlier met Malikkh and Punia at his residence, where former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also present.
"India's only Olympic medal-winning female wrestler, Sakshi Malik, retired from wrestling due to the grave injustice done to her and the Centre not honouring its promises. This is not a good sign as far as respect for the women of the country and the world of sports are concerned," Deepinder Hooda said in a post on X.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, too, on Friday alleged that the returning of medals by wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia exposed the BJP's insensitivity towards women and their safety.
The AAP, too, hit out at the BJP-led Centre over the treatment meted out to the wrestlers. Addressing a press conference, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak said that he was very sad after watching the media briefing of the wrestlers on Thursday.
"On Thursday, the whole country saw that our wrestlers, who brought glory to our nation, had tears in their eyes and pain in their chests while speaking to the media. Some of them have also said that they will quit wrestling," he said.
"When they win medals, the entire BJP puts their hoardings and tries to show that it was because of the efforts of the Centre that they won medals but when they were struggling, no one stands with them," he alleged.
Trouble brews in new WFI
Hardly 24 hours have passed since the formation of the new wrestling federation and trouble has started brewing within the sports body with Secretary General Lochab demanding postponement of the junior Nationals, saying the president did not follow rules while announcing the dates for the competition.
The new body under Singh had, on Friday, announced that U-15 and U-20 nationals will be held from December 28-30 in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
Lochab, who won from the rival Sheoran-panel, had not attended the meeting and claimed that all the decisions should come through the WFI secretary general.
Sanjay Singh maintained that the decision was taken keeping in mind the benefits and interest of junior wrestlers and that he did not flout any rule since the by-laws of the WFI Constitution allow him to take decision and the secretary general is bound to follow.
WFI writes to UWW for lifting suspension
The newly-elected body of WFI, on Friday, requested the world governing body United World Wrestling (UWW) to lift the ban imposed on it and also announced that it will host the senior National Championships from January 28 in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar.
"We wrote to the UWW today that the ban imposed on WFI should now be lifted as elections have been held democratically. I am sure the suspension will end soon," Sanjay Singh told PTI.
The UWW had suspended WFI on August 23 for not holding timely elections that were delayed due to various court cases.
No National Championship, except for U-23, was held in 2023.
(With PTI inputs)
