Issues public appeal not to suspect the motivation behind their 20 months long agitation against former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh
As was being expected, Olympian wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the core of a long-drawn agitation over women wrestlers’ sexual harassment charges against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, on Friday joined the Congress party a month ahead of polling for the Haryana assembly elections.
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Late evening, in the first list of candidates for the Haryana elections released by the party, Vinesh’s name appeared as the party nominee from Julana constituency in Jind district, from where her in-laws hail. In a separate letter issued by the party, Bajrang was given a national responsibility as Working Chairman of the All India Kisan Congress.
The move has apparently got co-Olympian Sakshi Malik, who was in the thick of the ongoing agitation with them, worried over its possible fallout on the agitation.
Moments before the two wrestlers formally joined the Congress, Sakshi, the first ever woman wrestler to win a medal at the Olympics (a bronze at the 2016 Rio Olympics), while describing their decision as a “personal choice”, said their protest should not be “misinterpreted” and given a “wrong colour” in the light of Vinesh and Bajrang joining the Congress.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Malik reaffirmed her commitment to the cause, stating, “From my end, the agitation continues…I have always thought about wrestling and had worked for it and will continue to do so. I too had received offers (from political parties), but I wanted to take the protest, which I have started for good reasons, till the end, until the Federation is cleansed, and the exploitation of women ends, my fight will continue…The fight is genuine, and it will continue …”
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The former WFI president is facing a trial after the court found sufficient material on record to frame charges against him for offences under Section 354 (outraging modesty of woman) and 354A (sexual harassment) under the old Indian Penal Code.
Vishesh, Bajrang lash out at BJP
Earlier, joining the Congress in the presence of party General Secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal in New Delhi, Vinesh Phogat lashed out at the BJP over the treatment of wrestlers during their protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was then a BJP MP as well. “When we were being dragged on the roads, every party except the BJP was with us. Other parties were able to understand our pain and our tears,” she said in anguish.
Bajrang Punia also attacked the BJP and said the wrestlers had invited women MPs from the party during the protest, but “they didn’t stand with the daughters”.
After her nightmarish disqualification ahead of her gold medal bout in the Paris Olympics on grounds of being just 100 grams over the weight ceiling in her weight category during the weigh-in on the morning of the bout, and being deprived of a medal in the process, Vinesh had indicated ending her wrestling career for good.
But did she have a political career in mind when posting an anguished message on social media addressed to her mother then, will remain a matter of speculation.
Congress wants to cash in
In this election, Congress is determined to wrest back power from the BJP after 10 years. By fielding Vinesh, the party is trying to cash in on the tremendous public support she received despite being disqualified after becoming the first ever Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final. She received a hero’s welcome on her return to the state from Paris.
Being a wrestling hub of the country, Haryana is also angry at the BJP, which is the ruling party both in the state and the Centre, for its handling of the wrestlers’ agitation (started in January 2023), during which they staged a couple of prolonged sit-ins at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital.
The ruling party was already on the backfoot for giving a cold shoulder to the farmers in their ongoing agitation and paid a heavy price, losing five of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded elections, after winning all 10 seats in the previous two elections in 2014 and 2019.
BJP denies ticket to Babita, Yogeshwar
Facing a backlash, and rural Haryana becoming literally out of bounds for its leaders, BJP has denied tickets to two former top wrestlers who are in the party’s fold – Vinesh’s cousin sister Babita Phogat, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and daughter of her paternal uncle and former coach Mahavir Phogat; and Olympic bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt, both having already unsuccessfully contested one and two elections respectively.
