A few days back, Indian wrestlers resumed their protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexually assaulting women wrestlers. Earlier, they had protested in the month of January. The demand of the protesting wrestlers was that the Delhi police should file an FIR against Brij Bhushan Singh, accusing him of sexually assaulting 7 women wrestlers, including one minor, for which they moved the apex court of the country too.
But at this juncture, one is forced to ask, looking at the recent developments in the protest, whether it is just a protest against an offender, as is being claimed, or is there a hidden agenda with political undertones behind the same? Let us look at what all has happened and is happening as far as the wrestlers vs Brij Bhushan controversy is concerned. Firstly, the wrestlers claimed that women wrestlers were sexually harassed by Brij Bhushan, later they said that 7 women were the victims of sexual assault, the WFI Chief being the culprit, and now, they have been saying that 1000 women in all have faced the same fate. But it is very important to note that not even a single ‘victim’ has till now come up to corroborate their claims; neither in front of the committee formed earlier to investigate the matter, nor in front of the Delhi police, nor at Jantar Mantar.
Prior to this, the investigating committee, headed by boxer Mary Com, gave a clean chit to accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh because there was no evidence which could prove that he has committed such a crime. But the wrestlers outright said that they have no faith in the committee, even though it was headed by such an eminent figure of the world of Indian sports.
Secondly, while no ‘victim’ came out to file an FIR on their own, and neither did any of the protesting wrestlers did so, the protesters repeated the same line of ‘We do not have faith’ when the Delhi police filed an FIR. And while they were the ones who even approached the Supreme Court for the police to file the FIR, now they say that they do not trust the Delhi police as it might file a ‘loose FIR’!
Another noteworthy observation which forces one to raise questions against the protest is that while earlier, the protesting wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Mallik had said that other players were molested, later, they started claiming that they were harassed by the WFI Chief as well. But when the investigating committee asked Vinesh Phogat as to when such a thing happened, she earlier said that it happened with her back in the year 2015 at Turkey, but it was found out that she never took part in the Turkey tournament that year. Later, she changed her statement saying that it happened with her in 2016 in Mongolia, but it was found out that Brij Bhushan never accompanied the players to Mongolia that year!
And while Sakshi Malik claimed that she was harassed by Brij Bhushan Singh in 2016, now photos are going viral on social media, which show that Brij Bhushan Singh was even invited to Sakshi’s wedding by her, in 2017. The question which now arises is, why would a woman ever invite a person to her wedding who had sexually assaulted her?
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Sakshi Malik’s wedding in 2017
In addition to such changing statements without any proof to corroborate their statements, the protest is now also seeing the participation of political leaders, that too criminals like Pappu Yadav. Satya Pal Malik and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also spotted at Jantar Mantar. One asks, what was the need of mocking and speaking ill about Yogi Adityanath by Pappu Yadav, a criminal himself at the protest site? What is Yogi Adityanath’s relationship with the ongoing controversy? Also, why were sinister slogans like, “Modi teri kabar khudegi” raised during the protest, amidst the protesting wrestlers giggling and laughing about the same?
On the other hand, Bajrang Punia’s wife, Sangeeta Phogat, could be seen uploading an Instagram story wherein Punia could be seen wringing a cloth with the word ‘JAAT’ written on the photo, with the caption being, ‘We will wring you similarly, Modi’ (if you have some delusion).
Sangeeta Phogat’s controversial Instagram story
Earlier, it was claimed by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh that these players are protesting unnecessarily because they do not want to play nationals and want a direct entry to international level tournaments and the Olympics, creating their monopoly in such tournaments, and today, a video clip has gone viral wherein Vinesh Phogat can be seen saying, “No player here will play nationals, we will all play Olympics only”.
The bottom line is, if there is something which Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has not done right, it will come to the fore after a proper investigation takes place, for which we need the law to take its own course, but the wrestlers are adamant on getting him arrested, immediately, without the police having any colossal proof against him. What also makes the wrestlers’ side weak is that not a single ‘victim’ has come out till now to accuse Brij Bhushan directly, and the changing statements of Vinesh and Sakshi clearly do not help their case. The rejection of the action being taken, be it by the committee or the Delhi police is another point which raises doubts in the minds of people who cannot help but notice these nuances of the controversy. And finally, the angle of caste politics cannot be left aside as well, looking at the Instagram story of Sangeeta Phogat.
