WATCH | ‘Neeche utar jaye’: Brinda Karat asked to step down from stage during wrestlers' protest
1 min read . Updated: 19 Jan 2023, 06:05 PM IST
Premium- Brinda Karat arrived at the wrestlers’ protest site but was asked by Bajrang Punia to step down when the latter saw her on the stage
Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat was asked to step down the stage at the wrestlers’ protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi by Tokyo Commonwealth Games gold medalist Bajrang Punia. Brinda Karat had joined the protest site to express her solidarity with Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat. Vinesh Phogat has alleged that the WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and other officials of the federation had been sexually exploiting the wrestlers for years.
Brinda Karat arrived at the wrestlers’ protest site but was asked by Bajrang Punia to step down when the latter saw her on the stage. He even refused to give them the mike.
“Neeche utar jaye [Please step down]. Madam mike kisiko nahi milega [Madam we won’t give the mike to anybody]. Request you to not this [the protest] a political issue and step down from the stage," Bajrang Punia is heard saying to Brinda Karat. The wrestler is heard requesting Karat to get off the state a couple of times.
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In a startling revelation, a crying Vinesh Phogat alleged on Wednesday that WFI President and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been sexually exploiting women wrestlers for many years, demanding the intervention of the prime minister and the home minister.
Vinesh Phogat has also alleged that several coaches, too, have also exploited women wrestlers. She added that some women have approached the women wrestlers at the behest of the WFI President. Vinesh Phogat said she herself has not faced sexual exploitation, but has received death threats as she dared to brought the prime minister’s attention to several issues infesting the Indian wrestling when she met him after the Tokyo games.
Addressing the media, Vinesh Phogat said, “I know at least 10-12 women wrestlers who have told me about the sexual exploitation they faced at the hands of (the) WFI President. They told me their stories. I can't take their names now but I can definitely reveal the names if we get to meet the Prime Minister and the Home Minister of the country."
