Congress chief Deepender Singh Hooda with the Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sangeeta Phogat and Sakshi Malik speaking with media individuals throughout their sitting on a dharna towards the Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 28, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
Political support for the continuing protest by wrestlers towards Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh widened on April 28, with a number of Opposition events, together with the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, expressing solidarity with their trigger.
Former Haryana Chief Minister and senior Congress chief Bhupinder Singh had met the protesters on the Jantar Mantar on April 25. His son, Deepender Hooda, adopted swimsuit on April 28. Mr. Deepender hit out at Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P.T. Usha for “failing” to get justice for the wrestlers.
Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat with Rajasthan University Students Union President Nirmal Choudhary throughout their sitting on a dharna towards the Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 28, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat additionally went to the protest web site on April 25 in a pointy departure from January when the wrestlers, then staging an analogous sit-in, requested her to depart the dais saying they didn’t need their protest to get politicised.
While a number of politicians took to social media on April 28 to again the wrestlers, some landed up on the protest web site in particular person. Among them have been Trinamool MPs Dola Sen and Aparupa Poddar, who visited the location within the night after social gathering chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted within the morning demanding that the “guilty” have to be delivered to guide “irrespective of their political affiliation”. “We must all stand with the wrestlers who are protesting… Our sportspersons are the pride of our nation. They are champions. The guilty must be brought to book, irrespective of their political affiliation…,” she tweeted.
A toddler holds a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi throughout a wrestlers sitting on a dharna towards the Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 28, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
AAP leaders and Delhi Cabinet Ministers Atishi and Saurabh Bharadwaj additionally met the protesters and took purpose at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modiji, you should be ashamed. If our daughters who bring respect to the country have to protest on the streets, then not even a single daughter is safe under your rule. Stop standing with rapists,” Ms. Atishi stated, assuring the wrestlers that the AAP, the Delhi authorities, and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would battle alongside them. The social gathering later stated in a tweet that they might battle towards the “rapists” of the BJP.
CPI(M) basic secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted towards the Delhi Police’s reticence in submitting a sexual harassment FIR towards the wrestling federation chief. “These are Olympian wrestlers who have done India proud. We have applauded, hailed & feted them when they won medals & brought India glory. It’s a shame that we cannot deliver them Justice,” he stated. RLD chief Jayant Singh additionally weighed in, tweeting, “Our top wrestlers were on the streets in January & should have been heard when they first spoke about abuse. P T Usha’s comments [that the protest amounted to indiscipline] in poor taste!”
CPI chief and Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam issued a scathing letter to Sports Minister Anurag Thakur questioning the federal government’s dedication to its slogans of “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” and “Khelo India”. “These sportspersons are inspirational to thousands of young people and the treatment being meted out to them is sure to discourage our younger generations from taking up sports,” he wrote.
Chief of the Bharatiya Kisan Union in Haryana, and the founding father of Sanyukt Sangharsh Party, Gurnam Singh Charuni addressing on the wrestlers’ dharna protest towards the Wrestling Federation of India Chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 28, 2023.
| Photo Credit:
Shiv Kumar Pushpakar
While the protest snowballed, Mr. Thakur, away in Leh to attend the Y-20 pre-summit assembly underneath G-20, stated he had met the wrestlers and fashioned a probe committee.
“More woman members were included in the committee for the ease of women wrestlers. We asked IOA to form an ad hoc committee to look into day-to-day affairs of WFI,” he stated.
