2023 Wrestlers' Protest: Elite athletes' revolt against system's harassment

From February 2023 to December 2023, three top Indian wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phoigat brought the system down to its with their fight against systematic harassment

There have been several protests by sports persons in modern history, but none faced such systematic resistance as those by the Indian wrestlers who shook the ground, not on a mat but on the roads and in the open tents in the capital city of Delhi.

Be it the Black Lives Matter or I Can't Breathe symbolic protests of recent times of those by Carl Lewis at the Olympics and by Muhammad Ali, the system never attacked the protesters or backed the man or authority so much as was the case with the Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, the protesting wrestlers and Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, the all-powerful Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief against whom the protests were made.

 

“We thought that we were champion athletes, we've won so many medals for the country and if we protest against something then it would be heard,” Sakshi Malik told ESPNIndia about what she thought before starting the protest.

Why was the wrestlers’ protest started?

It was never about the three that started and as Vinesh said in one of her interviews, they were not out to become “Bhagat Singh”, a famous term carved out of the bravery of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh but used to mock anyone who raises a voice against injustice in India. But still, the battle was personal.

Also Read: Protesting wrestlers to immerse medals in Ganga: A timeline of events

On January 18, Vinesh and Bajrang, world championship and Asian Games medalist with the latter being an Olympic medal winner as well, were joined by 2016 Olympic medal winner Sakshi Malik as an entire band of wrestlers marched to the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to protest against Brijbhushan’s sexual harassment of women wrestlers. It lasted only three days and the protesting wrestlers were assured that action would be taken against the guilty party and formed a seven-member committee.

“The entire wrestling community [showed up], current and former

wrestlers...we did not force anyone, we were only 10 wrestlers when we started. But when they saw that we were protesting against Brij Bhushan, they all came. This showed that they were all frustrated. Then, when they found out how deep this issue was, they all left,” Vinesh told ESPNIndia about how many wrestlers joined the initial protest but never returned for the long haul.

The 40-day long haul at Jantar Mantar

On April 23, nearly three months after they had stopped their first protest, wrestlers returned, but they were reduced to just 10 with Bajrang, Vinesh, Sakshi, Satyavrat Kadian (Sakshi’s husband and wrestler), Somvir Rathee (Vinesh’s husband and wrestler), Sangeeta Phogat and Priyanka Phogat (Vinesh’s sisters) and Rahul Yadav (wrestlers) being among those who stayed put after the first bout.

This time around it became tough as the protesting wrestlers wanted nothing less than the arrest of Brijbhushan by Delhi Police. They complained that the police didn’t register the cases against Brijbhushan. Since the demand was so big, the abuses hurled online at the wrestlers, who are arguably the best that the country has produced, were also bigger and so was the brutality by the system.

Narrating an incident, Sakshi said, “One day it rained so heavily that the wires we had put up for the fans and mics got short-circuited due to the water and there was an electric current in the tent. There was a storm and heavy winds were blowing...we used to sleep beside the barricades, and those were knocked down by the winds. It was about to fall on Sangeeta and somehow Bajrang and Satyawart (Kadian, Sakshi's husband and also a wrestler) stopped it from falling. If we had woken up 2-3 minutes later, we would have been crushed under the barricade.”

Also Read: People from 360 Delhi villages to express solidarity at wrestlers' protest

New Parliament, Old system harass wrestlers

On May 28, protesting wrestlers started a march towards the new parliament, which was going to be inaugurated. They announced a peaceful march to show their displeasure at Brijbhushan entering the parliament as a ruling-party member even as protests against him were going on for more than a month. However, it was on that day that wrestlers realised what the system was capable of doing.

“That day I broke down because what were we doing? We were just raising our voices for justice. Why were they trying to dabaofy us [shut us up]? We were very emotionally and mentally troubled through that phase,” Sakshi Malik sobbed in an interview with ESPNIndia.

March to Hardiwar

pic.twitter.com/4LzKaVTYo4

— Bajrang Punia ???????? (@BajrangPunia) May 30, 2023

After the wrestlers were released from detention after their march to the new Parliament building, they decided to go to Haridwar, the spiritual town in Uttarakhand to immerse their medals in Ganga, showing their inability to fight against the injustices of the system.

Complaints are taken back

The minor girl, on whose complaint the case was filed against Brijbhushan took back the complaint on the advice of her father and uncle on June 8.

“Calls were made and some were convinced, in various ways, to take back their allegations. It's not like he is new to wrestling, he knows what is happening in every state and every akhada. He has his people everywhere. He will get all the details of any person, it's no big deal for him,” Vinesh said about how the morale of the protesting wrestlers was demolished.  

Protest halted

The complaints were taken back just one day after the protests were halted at the request of Sports Minister Anurag Thakur. However, taking back the complaints was not the only thing that happened after the halting of the protests. The WFI was suspended by the United World Wrestling after two months of drama from June to August ensuring that no fresh elections took place.

IOA appointed ad-hoc body, chaired by Bhupinder Singh Bajwa took control of the WFI and gave three protesting wrestlers a chance to take part in the Asian Games and World Wrestling Championships 2023. This decision was protested by junior wrestlers. Only Bajrang fought the one-bout completion and represented India at the Asian Games, winning a Bronze medal as Vinesh and Sakshi withdrew.

WFI elections finally happened

Just as people started forgetting about wrestling and wrestlers as the year was coming to an end, the WFI elections were conducted and Brijbhushan’s close aide Sanjay Singh was elected new president in an onse-died battle against Anita Sheoran, a former wrestler, witness against Brijbhushan and the only women candidate completing for any post in the body.

The results were celebrated with pomp and joy as a kind of victory for Brijbhushan.

Also Read: Sakshi Malik quits wrestling as Brijbhushan aide Sanjay elected WFI chief

Wrestlers protest again, but differently

This did not go well with the wrestlers as Sakshi announced that she would retire from the sport of people like Brijbhsuhan and his aide controlled the wrestling boy. Full of tears, she stormed out of the Press Club of India, painting a picture of a woman defeated not on the mat but outside, in a bout that she had no control over.

Taking on account of that, WFI announced U-15 and U-20 national championships for boys and girls to be held in Gonda, Brijbhushan’s parliamentary constitution. This went too far and the Sports Ministry suspended WFI on various grounds which included not following WFI’s constitution and tasking decisions in haste.

Vinesh returned her Arjuna and Khel Ratna awards while Bajrang too put his Padma Shri on the gates of 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in protest of the new WFI elections.

Waiting to pin the man on the mat

“What I learnt this year is more than what I have learnt in my whole life. I used to get goosebumps when the national anthem was played. Now I don't feel anything [when the anthem is played],” Vinesh said about her experience from January to December.

However, the biggest victory for her and all the wrestlers according to Vinesh would be when she wins the Olympic medal and looks Brijbhushan in the eye to show him how much the Rs 15 medals count. It will be like pinning the opponent after being 1-9 down.

Also Read: Wrestler Vinesh Phogat to return Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award in protest

“The only thing I have told Bajrang and Sakshi is that I will still fight. I will look him [Brij Bhushan] in the eye and medal leke aungi main, tu dekh [bring back a medal and show it to him]. They both have Olympic medals, I don't. I have a reason to fight. If I train well, I can win a medal. No one can stop me,” said Vinesh to ESPNIndia.