Pawan Kumar
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Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia held a press conference in New Delhi after meeting with officials from the Union Sports Ministry to talk about their protest.
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), will hold a press conference on Friday at the Wrestling Training Centre in Nawabganj, Gonda district, Uttar Pradesh. Wrestlers who are protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi will also talk to the press today at 10:30 AM. This happened after top Indian wrestlers met with Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and refused to back down from their demand that the government start taking steps right away to get rid of the WFI.
“Exposing the political conspiracy of those plotting against wrestling and playing with the dignity of women wrestlers,” Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh wrote in a Hindi Facebook post announcing his press conference for today.
Indian wrestlers like Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, world champion medalist Vinesh Phogat, and others have been sitting in at Jantar Mantar to protest WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. They accuse him of sexual exploitation and bullying.
On Thursday night, the protesting wrestlers, led by Vinesh and Bajrang and including Sakshi, Anshu Malik, Ravi Dahiya, Sarita Mor, and others, met Anurag Thakur at his home and asked him to act quickly. The two sides had a long meeting that ended around 2 a.m., but they still haven’t come up with a real solution.
Also Read: Wrestlers Protest against WFI
What We Know About the WFI Protest So Far
Sources told PTI that the government wants the wrestlers to stop their protest, but they have stuck to their demand that the WFI be dissolved first. A source close to the wrestlers told PTI, “The government can take care of other problems later, which is fine with us. But first, it needs to get rid of the WFI.”
Brinda karat told not to give the sports person's protest a political colour, asked to leave the protest site by the wrestlers pic.twitter.com/VwR4ttAs12
— Amanpreet Singh (ਅਮਨਪ੍ਰੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ) (@amanthejourno) January 19, 2023
A group of wrestlers, including Bajrang, Vinesh, Anshu, Sakshi, and her husband Satyawrat Kadiyan, met with government officials on Thursday morning to talk about their problems. They met with Sports Secretary Sujata Chaturvedi, Sports Authority of India Director General Sandip Pradhan, and Joint Secretary (Sports) Kunal.
According to PTI, during the hour-long meeting, the athletes were told to stop their protest and that their problems would be taken care of. Babita Phogat, who used to be a wrestler and is now a leader in the BJP, was also there.
The Sports Ministry has asked the WFI for an explanation about the wrestlers’ claims, but the WFI has not yet given one. Since the government has already asked the WFI for an explanation, the ministry can’t make Brij Bhushan quit until it gets a written answer.
A spokesperson for the National Commission for Women said, “People who have complaints about this matter can go to the women’s panel.”
The protest started with a shocking revelation. On Wednesday, a crying Vinesh Phogat said that WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had been sexually exploiting women wrestlers for many years. The sports administrator and BJP MP strongly denied this claim.
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The 28-year-old woman said that she had never been used in this way, but she added, “I know at least 10–20 female wrestlers who have told me that the WFI President took advantage of them sexually. They told me what happened. I can’t give you their names right now, but if we get to meet the Prime Minister and the Home Minister of the country, I’ll be happy to “.
“People close to the WFI President have made death threats against me. If something bad happens to any of us sitting here, it will be the WFI President’s fault “She said that.
