Friday, March 29, 2024

BJP MP compares wrestlers’ protest against sexual harassment with Shaheen Bagh movement

Celebrated Indian wrestlers, including Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, world championship medallist Vinesh Phogat and others, have been protesting against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment and intimidation. The protest gets bigger as it enters Day 3 at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

Wrestlers’ meeting with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur remained inconclusive as they refused to back down from their demand that the government immediately disband the federation. Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Sakshi Malik, and world championship medallist Vinesh Phogat were part of the meeting.

The protesting wrestlers on Friday reached out to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), demanding the formation of an inquiry committee to probe the allegations of sexual harassment against Singh, a day after threatening to lodge multiple FIRs against the WFI chief and a sixth-time Lok Sabha MP from UP’s Kaisarganj constituency.

Singh on Friday termed the protest ‘dharna of Shaheen Bagh’ and reiterated that he wouldn’t quit the post. “The protest by wrestlers against me is the dharna of Shaheen Bagh,’ Singh told reporters.

Shaheen Bagh, a Muslim-majority neighborhood in the national capital, was the heart of the 2019-20 citizenship protests.

Singh also termed the protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar an attack on BJP orchestrated by the Congress party.

Earlier speaking to a TV channel, the WFI chief and saffron politician Singh had said, “The protesting players have become a toy in the hands of Congress and Deepinder Hooda. This type of conspiracy was done against me by Congress almost three decades ago. Once again, the conspiracy has been repeated.

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