Even after a month of sustained protests against the alleged sexual misconduct of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, top wrestlers who have won medals for India at international forums are waging a struggle at Jantar Mantar. National Capital.
Tension escalated on Sunday as wrestler Vinesh Phogat, along with her cousin Sangeeta Phogat and other sportspersons, attempted to breach security barricades when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inaugurating the new “temple of democracy”. Parliament House in New Delhi.
This led to pushing and shoving between both the protesters and the police officers. Later all the wrestlers including Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and their supporters were taken into custody and removed from the protest site.
Earlier in the day, while stressing on the fight for self-respect, Punia said that a mahapanchayat would be held on Sunday.
On Sunday last week, the khap mahapanchayat called in support of the protesting wrestlers, which went on for over five hours in Haryana’s Meham town, and claimed that women from across the country would participate in the Delhi panchayat on May 28.
However, most of the khap and peasant leaders coming from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were stopped by the police in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Congress, Kejriwal condemn police action
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal condemned the police action against wrestlers who have accused Singh of sexual harassment and have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23.
In a tweet, Kejriwal said, “Such behavior with our sportspersons, who bring laurels to the country, is extremely wrong and condemnable.”
Later, AAP also shared a video comparing police detaining agitated protesters and PM Modi inaugurating the new Parliament building.
The Congress, which boycotted the mega event, also shared a similar video showing protesters being dragged away by the police while PM Modi was busy with the inauguration. Later, Rahul Gandhi also shared the shocking video of the protest site and captioned it, “The coronation is over – the ‘arrogant king’ is crushing the public voice on the streets!”