Three of India’s top wrestlers, who led a demonstration last week to draw attention to allegations of sexual harassment against BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, claimed on Tuesday that the Sports Ministry broke its promise and failed to consult them when establishing an oversight committee to look into their claims.
We were promised that we would be contacted before the Oversight Committee was established, then Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik made identical tweets with the names of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. That our opinions were not considered before the committee was established is really regrettable.
The bronze medalist at the world championships in wrestling, Sarita Mor, also posted the identical message on social media.
The tweets were published one day after Thakur announced the establishment of the oversight committee, which would be led by boxing icon Mary Kom, to take over the WFI’s stewardship of the sport and look into the claims made against its executives and coaches.
Last Friday, the wrestlers attended a five-hour meeting with Thakur, who assured them that their requests would be satisfied and that the accusations would be looked into, and the protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi was cancelled.
Olympic medal-winning wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, former badminton player and Mission Olympic Cell member Trupti Murgunde, former CEO of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme Rajesh Rajagopalan, and former Sports Authority of India executive director (teams) Radhika Sreeman are the other members of the oversight committee, which was announced on Monday. Olympic bronze medalist Dutt ran unsuccessfully for the BJP in the 2020 byelection for Baroda (Haryana). In 2016, the Center proposed Mary Kom for nomination as a Rajya Sabha Member.
Another committee formed by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) last week to look into the wrestlers’ claims includes Dutt and Mary Kom as well. Sahdev Yadav, and two advocates Shlok Chandra and Talish Ray the president of the Indian Weightlifting Association, and archer Dola Banerjee are also members of the IOA committee.
Women wrestlers have been sexually assaulted at national camps by coaches as well as the WFI president, Vinesh had said last week, accusing Brij Bhushan of the offence. Some of the national camp coaches have a history of harassing female wrestlers sexually. Additionally, the WFI president is complicit in sexual harassment. The wrestlers had brought up concerns about financial irregularities in the WFI and accused Singh of being authoritarian. On Tuesday, no one could be reached to speak with Thakur.
