The protest was held by the wrestlers demanding to arrest the chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Birj Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegations on sexual harassment, which was carried out by Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik in Haridwar on May 30, but they did not announce anything regarding their idea of throwing their medals in river Ganga. When the wrestlers marched to the new Parliament without taking any permissions, the police officers cleared all the crowd near that site and made a clear statement that none of the wrestlers will be allowed in Jantar Mantar anymore.
After the Khap Panchayat, the farmers leader made an announcement at Kurukshetra in Haryana to deliberate further steps that should be taken concerning the wrestler’s protest.
On Friday, Mr.Rakesh Tikait leader of (BKU) Bharatiya Kisan Union gave a statement that ‘7-10 days time should be given to the government to take necessary actions against WFI and its Chief’.
Tikait said that “The Panchayat will be held all over the country and we have made a decision to support wrestlers at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on 9th June 2023 if the government of our country does not take any necessary actions against the allegations and grievances about the BJP MP Birj Bhushan Sharan Singh, chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) who was ruling the wrestling for 12 years”.
The members of the World Cup Winning team,1983 extended their support to Vinesh Phogat and other wrestlers by convincing the aggressive wrestlers to not take any impulsive decisions. The cricket players said that, ‘the visuals of the champion being manhandled was really disturbing and they hoped that justice would be given to them. The team was very much concerned about the idea of wrestlers dumping all their hard earned medals in river Ganga. Those medals involve lots of sacrifice, years of effort, determination and this isn’t their own but it’s the joy and pride of the nation. They wished this matter would be heard and resolved soon and requested the wrestlers to not take any harsh decisions”.
Mr.Kapil Dev said that the whole 1983 batch will stand by the statement and we are not going to tell anything individually. The 83 batch included the current BCCI President, Mr. Roger Binny, Syed Kirmani, Sunil Gavaskar, K Srikanth, Mohinder Amarnath, Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil,Yashpal Sharma, Kirti Azad and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
Few other former cricketers such as Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan and Anil Kumble also came forward to support the wrestlers. The current players are yet to address the wrestlers issue.