In tweets posted on Friday, wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshee Malikkh urged political parties not to capitalise on the wrestlers’ protest of the Wrestling Federation of India and its president, Brij Bhushan Singh.
Wrestler and BJP member Babita Phogat sent a stern message to the Congress, pleading with the party to refrain from politicising the issue for “own benefit” amid frantic negotiations to find a resolution to the top wrestlers in India’s protest against the Wrestling Foundation of India and its leader Brij Bhushan Singh. “Players are not battling against either didi Smriti Irani or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Federation and one specific person are the targets of the protest. I wish to urge the Congress to refrain from playing petty politics with athletes’ travel plans for their own gain “Tweeted Babita Phogat.
As the wrestlers’ demonstration at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar entered its third day on Friday, one of the major demonstrators, Bajrang Punia, also clarified his position and warned against playing politics with the situation.
CPM politician Brinda Karat joined the wrestlers on Thursday, but she was asked to leave the stage so that the protest would stay neutral and not take on a political overtone.
Due to the fact that Brij Bhushan Singh, a BJP MP from Kaiserganj who has been accused of sexual harassment, is the subject of the wrestlers’ ongoing protest, it is clear that this is a political issue. As the first member of the party to be elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991, his affiliation with the party is strong. After a brief absence in the Samajwadi Party, he returned to the party.
Anurag Thakur, the union’s minister of sports, spoke with the demonstrators on Thursday, and a second meeting is scheduled for Friday. After the wrestlers wrote to PT Usha, the association’s president, expressing their demands against the federation and Brij Bhushan, the Indian Olympic Association arranged an emergency meeting with the wrestlers on Friday evening.
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