Police on Monday afternoon stopped a march to Rashtrapati Bhavan by seven sportspersons who, led by two-time Asian Games champion wrestler Kartar Singh, wanted to return their awards and medals.

The athletes, who planned to return 35 awards in all, are yet to receive an appointment from President Ram Nath Kovind. Their march was stopped as soon as it had begun from the Press Club of India.

“We felt bad to see our farmer brothers lathi-charged and the roads closed (to prevent them entering Delhi),” Kartar, who won gold in the 1978 and 1986 Asian Games, told reporters.

“Farmers are sitting on the streets in this bitter cold for their rights. I’m a farmer’s son and I still do farming despite being an IG (inspector-general of) police.” Kartar retired from Punjab police in 2013.

The other six athletes included the Dhyan Chand awardee hockey player Gurmail Singh, part of the gold-winning team in the 1980 Olympics, and his wife and former national women’s hockey captain and Arjuna awardee Rajbir Kaur.

Gurmail retired as a superintendent of police, and he and his wife joined the Shiromani Akali Dal in 2017.

Dhyan Chand Award recipient Gurmail Singh during the march. Picture by Prem Singh

Recently, Olympic bronze-winning boxer and Congress member Vijender Singh too had threatened to return his Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the attendant benefits if the new farm regime was not rescinded.

Gurmail told reporters: “Let the government declare that it will withdraw the (new farm) laws…. We are returning the awards because the farmer stands above all; everything else comes later.”

After being stopped at a police barricade in front of Krishi Bhavan, the athletes left with their awards and said they would be joining the protesting farmers at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana.

News agency PTI quoted a statement issued by the Indian Olympic Association on Monday, which said: “Of late sportspersons are seen to be announcing return of their national awards as a mark of their support for the recent farmers’ issue. National awards and farmers’ issue are two separate things….

“Every Indian, including us, loves and supports the farmers and we all would always like our farming community to be happy as they are the ‘annadatas’ (providers) of our country.”