Wrestlers Hand Over Medals To Naresh Tikait, Give Govt 5 Days’ Time

Source: PTI

Agitating wrestlers, including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia, handed their medals to Bhartiya Kisan Union chief and Balian Khap head Naresh Tikait, who had reached Haridwar’s Har ki Pauri to stop them from putting these into the Ganga as a symbolic act of protest against Wrestling Federation of India Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom they have accused of sexual harassment.

Tikait, along with the wrestlers, have now given five days to the government to sort out their demands, failing which wrestlers will go ahead with their decision to submerge their medals in the Ganga.

A large gathering assembled at Har ki Pauri, witnessing the wrestlers’ poignant demonstration after they reached there with their world championship and Olympic medals.

Emotions ran high, and Sakshi, Vinesh, and Vinesh’s cousin Sangeeta were visibly overcome, and their husbands offered consolation as their numerous supporters formed a protective circle.

Earlier, after reaching Har ki Pauri, the wrestlers stood in solemn silence for approximately 20 minutes. Subsequently, they took a seat by the riverbank, clutching their medals and their expressions reflecting profound distress.

The wrestlers had also announced that they will sit on a hunger strike at India Gate after the immersion programme, but Delhi Police sources said that they will not be allowed to protest at the national monument.

“No formal request has been received from the wrestlers thus far. To proceed with any demonstration, the wrestlers must adhere to the protocol by submitting a written communication to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) concerned. The decision regarding their request will be made based on the established guidelines and procedures,” a police source said.

“India Gate is not a protest site and police will not allow wrestlers to protest there. We will suggest alternate site for protest including Ramleela Ground and Burari,” the source added.

Meanwhile, the country’s top wrestlers, who were detained by Delhi Police and removed from their Jantar Mantar protest site, had on Tuesday said they will immerse their hard-earned medals into river Ganges and sit on a hunger strike “until death” at the India Gate.

Sakshi Malik, a bronze medallist at the 2016 Olympics, said in a statement on her Twitter handle that the wrestlers will go to Haridwar on Tuesday to immerse the medals into the holy river at 6 pm.

“These medals are our life and soul. We are going to immerse them in the Ganges. After that there is no point of living, so we will sit on a hunger strike until death at India Gate,” she said in the statement written in Hindi. The same statement was also shared by her compatriot Vinesh Phogat.

Tuesday happened to be Ganga Dussera in Haridwar and a day when lot of people were there to offer prayers.

On Sunday, Delhi police detained Malik along with World Championships bronze winner Vinesh Phogat and another Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia and later filed FIRs against them for violation of law and order, as dramatic scenes unfolded at the protest site at Jantar Mantar.

Unprecedented scenes of police dragging the Olympic and world championships medal-winning players were witnessed when the wrestlers and their supporters breached the security cordon ahead of their march towards the new Parliament building for the planned women’s ‘Mahapanchayat’.

The wrestlers did not have permission to move towards the new Parliament building, hours after it was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and when they were stopped by police, an ugly scuffle broke out.

The protesting wrestlers and their supporters were taken to different locations in the national capital and later released.

After the wrestlers were pushed into buses, the police officers cleared the protest site by removing the cots, mattresses, coolers, fans and the tarpaulin ceiling along with other belongings of the grapplers.

The Delhi Police said it will not allow the wrestlers back into the protest site.