Khap Panchayats in support of wrestlers: said- will reach the dharna; sports minister asked players to wait for president’s reply

Friday is the third day of the country’s women wrestlers strike against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Khap panchayats of Haryana can also reach the dharna going on at Jantar Mantar. On Thursday, on the call of Phogat Khap, an all-caste Sarva Khap Panchayat was held. In this, it was decided that if the demands of the wrestlers are not met, then the Khap Panchayats will join the dharna in two days.

Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur invited the protesting wrestlers for dinner at his official residence on Thursday night. He talked to the players for about four and a half hours and asked them to wait for the reply of the President of the Wrestling Association.

Let us tell you that on Wednesday night, the officials of the Sports Ministry had a conversation with the players for about an hour, after which they sent a notice to the wrestling association and gave an ultimatum of 72 hours to reply. Its term will end on Saturday night i.e. 21 January. That is, the players have been asked to wait for two days.

Many wrestlers including Bajrang Poonia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Poonia, Babita Phogat had reached the Sports Minister’s house in 4 vehicles. Earlier, Thakur had said in Chandigarh – Sports Ministry has sent a notice to WFI seeking reply in 72 hours. The upcoming camp has also been postponed with immediate effect. I am going to Delhi and will meet the wrestlers.

Earlier on Thursday, the Sports Ministry called the aggrieved players and held talks for about an hour. The wrestlers were not satisfied with the talks. Their demand was earlier to remove the WFI president, now they want to dissolve the wrestling association. He said- his sit-in demonstration will continue till the demand is fulfilled.

Here, WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said – I will not resign. Politics is being played against me at the behest of Congress leader Deepender Hooda. Those who are making allegations, their career is over. Most of the wrestlers are from the same community. I will follow the orders of the party.

This photo is from Wednesday. After holding a meeting with Sports Ministry officials, the wrestlers first spoke to their teammates and then spoke to the media.

Let us tell you that WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and some coaches were accused of sexual harassment by Olympic winning players. More than 200 players are protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar since Wednesday i.e. 18th January. After the allegations, the Sports Ministry also immediately became active regarding the matter. Late on Wednesday night, he sent a notice to the wrestling association and asked them to reply in 72 hours. If not doing so, warned of action. The wrestlers interacted with the media after the meeting with the Sports Ministry was over on Thursday. Read what the wrestlers said…

Vinesh Phogat: Every single day of ours is precious. We have not received a satisfactory answer in the meeting. Our allegations are true. We should not be forced to come in front of everyone. We are fighting for our honour. We do not want to tell the whole country what has happened to the daughters of the country. The day all the girls tell the media what happened to us, it will be a disaster for wrestling.

Vinesh Phogat is a resident of Haryana. She is the niece of Dangal fame Mahavir Singh Phogat and is a gold medalist in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

We also want the resignation of the Speaker and will also send the Speaker to jail. A lot has gone wrong with us. We are not sitting here without proof. The Speaker should look in front of me for two minutes and say that he has not done wrong. Our fight is to save girls from exploitation. If we are also not safe then not even a single girl child should be born in India. The Speaker has finished the wrestling of UP. If our demand is not accepted, we will file an FIR against these girls. WFI President Brij Bhushan will send Sharan Singh to jail.

Bajrang Punia won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics.

Bajrang Punia: We have all the wrestlers of India with us. The Speaker had said that if you give proof, you will be hanged. Earlier we had two girls with us, now with proof we have 6-7 girls who have been exploited by the Speaker. We will not back down. We will not be satisfied with mere resignation. We want to dissolve the federation.

Sakshi Malik won the bronze medal in Rio Olympics.

Sakshi Malik: We have only been given assurances in the meeting. We are not satisfied with the assurance. We need concrete action.

Wrestling Federation meeting on January 22, Singh may resign
According to news agency ANI, the Annual Meeting (AGM) of the Wrestling Federation’s Executive Committee is going to be held in Ayodhya on January 22. Union President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will also attend the meeting. According to media reports, Singh may announce his resignation in this meeting.

Bajrang Punia had thrown Vrinda Karat off the stage

On Thursday, Communist Party leader Vrinda Karat players had reached the stage. The players had asked him to get down.

Communist Party CPI (M) leader Vrinda Karat climbed on the stage during the dharna on Thursday. Bajrang Punia urged him to come down. Bajrang said, please don’t make this issue political. Our fight is with the Federation and not with the government.

Geeta and Babita Phogat’s tweet…

Haryana resident Olympian Manoj Kumar also made allegations

Olympic medalist in boxing Vijender Singh also accompanied the wrestlers.

Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha’s tweet- Said- We will conduct a complete investigation to get justice

3 big statements…
1. Bajrang Punia: We play for the country, we fight for it. This fight that is going on is a fight for our honour.
2. WFI Chief: If even a single allegation turns out to be true, then hang him. Performing sportspersons cannot win Olympic medals. They are angry, that’s why they are protesting.
3. BJP leader Babita Phogat: Where there is fire, there comes smoke. I will try to solve the complaint of these people today itself.

What were the allegations made by the players on the first day of the dharna, read in sequence…

Vinesh Phogat (3 Gold in 3 consecutive Commonwealth Games)
Allegations – Sexual harassment and threats to kill

Vinesh Phogat had said in the dharna on Wednesday – Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, President of Women Wrestlers and coaches sexually harass in National Camps. Some coaches posted in national camps have been sexually harassing women wrestlers for years. Many female wrestlers also complained about this.

Vinesh further said that, after the defeat in the Tokyo Olympics, the WFI president called me a ‘false coin’. mentally tortured. I used to think about ending my life every day. If anything happens to any wrestler then the responsibility will be on the WFI President.

Vinesh did not stop here. He said- Coaches are harassing women. Our position is that even if water is consumed without permission, the Federation gets angry. We are being threatened with death. If anything happens to us, the president will be responsible for that. We are sitting here on dharna putting our career at stake.

Vinesh further told that the Federation forcefully bans the players so that the players cannot play. I have been trying to talk to the Federation for almost 10 years and explain our issues, but no one is ready to listen.

Bajrang Punia (Bronze in Tokyo Olympics 2020)
Allegations – Federation ignores, degrades Is
Bajrang Punia said that our protest is against WFI and the way they are working without keeping in mind the interests of the wrestlers. It has nothing to do with politics. The president should resign. We will talk directly to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.

Sources in Bhaskar said that the Federation had called for new referees for the Senior Wrestling Championship in Visakhapatnam. The new referees didn’t know the rules. He gave wrong decisions. Due to this, there was a lot of dissatisfaction among the players and there were fights.

When Bajrang Punia’s personal coach Sujit Mann questioned the decision of a match, he was suspended by the federation. Sujit Mann’s name is not there in the senior camp in Sonipat. Dharna is being organized because of such arbitrariness of the Federation.

WFI President said – If the allegations are true then hang him would go
Here, WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said – Vinesh Phogat’s allegations are baseless. He has no proof of the allegations. If the allegations are true, I will be hanged.

Bajrang’s former coach Virender Pahalwan also came forward
In support of Bajrang, his former coach Virender Pahalwan supported him. He said that if things like molestation and sexual harassment come to the fore then it is a matter of great misfortune for us. The government should take full action on this, complete investigation should be done. This is a very serious matter. If matters continue to arise like this, which father would send his daughters to sports. Our sport is also linked with the security of the nation. If our jawans, young jawans are strong (thade), intelligent then only the country will be protected.

Wrestlers tweeted
Wrestlers tweeted against WFI and explained their problems. Now see the tweets of wrestlers…

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