India’s world-class wrestlers including Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat have said they will throw their Olympic and world medals in the Ganga at Haridwar on Tuesday as a way of protesting the Delhi police action.
The wrestlers also said they will sit on a fast unto death at New Delhi’s India Gate.
The wrestlers who have been protesting against the WFI chief and demanding his arrest over sexual harassment allegations, put out a joint statement saying the grapplers will go to Haridwar and immerse the medals in river Ganga at 6 pm. “These medals are our lives, our souls. There would be no reason to live after throwing them in the Ganga today. So, we will stage a hunger strike until death at India Gate after that,” read the statement in Hindi.
The protesters added that the Prime Minister “who calls us our daughters”, but he did not even once show his concern for the wrestlers.
“Rather, he (PM Modi) invited the ‘oppressor’ (Brij Bhushan) to the inauguration of the new Parliament building. He even posed for photographs in bright white clothes. We have been stained by this brightness,” the statement said.
This comes two days after Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sangeeta Phogat, Sakshi Malik and several others were detained by Delhi Police on Sunday when they attempted to move towards the new Parliament building for ‘Mahila Mahapanchayat’.
