Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Bajrang Punia has announced returning Padma Shri award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The development come safter fellow Olympic medallist Sakshee Malikkh announced her retirement at a teary-eyed press conference.
“I am returning my Padmashree award to the Prime Minister. This is just my letter to say. This is my statement,” Bajrang Punia said in a tweet.
मैं अपना पद्मश्री पुरस्कार प्रधानमंत्री जी को वापस लौटा रहा हूँ. कहने के लिए बस मेरा यह पत्र है. यही मेरी स्टेटमेंट है। pic.twitter.com/PYfA9KhUg9
— Bajrang Punia (@BajrangPunia) December 22, 2023
Bajrang’s declaration comes a day after Brisjbhushan Singh Sharan’s aide Sanjay Singh was elected President as the WFI Elections. And that ha sbecome a bone of contention as the agitating wrestlers want Wrestling Federation of India to be free from Brijbhushan’s clout.
Some women wrestlers accused Brijbhushan of sexual harassment and a a probe was launched.
Also Read: Government broke its promise: Bajrang Punia lashes out at Anurag Thakur after WFI elections
Bajrang Punia’s Letter to PM Modi
Respected Prime Minister,
Hope you are well. You will be busy serving the country. Amidst your busy schedule, I want to draw your attention to our wrestling.
You must be aware that in the month of January this year, the women wrestlers of the country had made serious allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Singh, who was in charge of the wrestling association. When those women wrestlers started their movement, I also joined it.
The agitating wrestlers returned to their homes in January when the government told them of concrete action. But even after three months, when FIR was not filed against Brijbhushan, then in the month of April, we wrestlers again moved to streets and protested so that Delhi Police should at least register an FIR against Brij Bhushan Singh, but when things did not work out so we had to go to court.
In January, the number of complainant women wrestlers was 19, which came down to 7 by April, that is, in these three months, with the power of his strength, Brij Bhushan Singh had repelled 12 women wrestlers in his fight for justice. The movement lasted for 40 days. In these 40 days, one female wrestler further retreated. There was a lot of pressure on all of us. Our protest site was destroyed and we were chased out of Delhi and our protest was banned.
When this happened we had no idea what to do. That’s why we thought of shedding our medals in the Ganga. When we went there, our coach Sahiban and the farmers did not allow us to do so. At the same time, a call came from one of your responsible ministers and we were told to come back, justice would be done to us. Meanwhile, we also met our Home Minister, in which he assured us that he will support the women wrestlers in getting justice and will expel Brij Bhushan, his family and his henchmen from the Wrestling Federation.
We accepted his advice and ended our movement from the streets, because the government would resolve the wrestling union and the fight for justice would be fought in the court, these two things seemed logical to us.
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