Vinesh Phogat questions top Indian athletes’ silence regarding the wrestlers’ protests

Vinesh Phogat took a dig at Indian sportstars and cricketers for choosing to ignore the plight of wrestlers in the country in their struggle against the system.

Despite the grave nature of the battle that they have been waging for a while, the elite wrestlers in the country have found little to no support from their fellow professional athletes. At a time when they need support, backing, they’ve been hurt by the distance that cricketers and top sportstars in the country have maintained so far.

World Championship medalist Vinesh Phogat, who has been one of the leading faces of the wrestlers’ protest along with Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, said that she was ‘hurt’ by the sheer indifference and that those athletes “don’t have the courage” to stand up to those in power.

Three months on from their initial sit-in protest outside the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, wrestlers have continued to agitate because they said that they haven’t found justice yet. The wrestlers had alleged rampant corruption in the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and even accused its former president Brij Bhushan Singh of sexual harassment on several occasions.

“The entire country worships cricket but not even a single cricketer has spoken up. We aren’t saying that you speak in our favour, but at least put up a neutral message and say there should be justice for whichever party. This is what pains me… Be it cricketers, badminton players, athletics, boxing..,” said Vinesh Phogat.

To drive her point home even further, Phogat even cited the example of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement in the United States which drew the attention from sportspersons across the world in the fight against racial discrimination and inequality.

Even several cricketers from India, including Hardik Pandya, had showed their support towards BLM and but choose to remain silent on matters at home.

“It’s not like we don’t have big athletes in our country. There are cricketers… During the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, they showed their support. Don’t we deserve even that much,” she asked.

Furthermore, she even said that she and Bajrang had written open letters and posted videos, requesting sportspersons to speak up. “But we don’t know what they are afraid of. I understand that they may be concerned that this could affect their sponsorship and brand endorsement deals. Maybe that’s why they are afraid to associate themselves with athletes who are protesting. But it pains me,” she said.

“You do come forward to congratulate us when we win something. Even the cricketers tweet when that happens. Abhi kya ho gaya? (What has happened now?) Are you so afraid of the system? Or maybe there’s something fishy going on there too? (Unke daal mein bhi kaala hai, yeh maan ke chale hum?)

“Log kehte hai wrestlers ka dimaag ghutno mein hota hai (People say wrestlers’ mind is not in the right place). But I’ll say our dil (heart), dimaag (mind)… everything is in the right place. Other athletes need to check where their mind is. Dil toh unke paas hai hi nahi (They don’t have a heart),” she said.

Phogat concluded by saying that the responsibility of “cleaning up the system” lies with the leading athletes and sportspersons who represent the country and it will only bring benefit for the next generation.