The Union sports ministry on Sunday suspended the Wrestling Federation of India, referring to “the compelling current situation arising out of the influence and control of the WFI’s former office-bearers” and the “serious concerns about the governance and integrity of the WFI”.
The action comes days after the election as WFI president of Sanjay Singh — a loyalist of federation ex-president and BJP parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who is accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers — had prompted an Olympic medallist to retire in protest and another to return his Padma Shri.
The government order does not refer to the wrestlers’ protest or the harassment controversy, but a senior wrestling administrator said Sunday’s action possibly reflected an attempt by the Centre at a face-saver without openly acknowledging a mistake in handling the Brij Bhushan affair.
On Thursday, hours after Sanjay Singh’s election, top wrestler Bajrang Punia had accused the government of “going back on its promise” not to let any Brij Bhushan loyalist contest the WFI polls.
A communication to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president from government undersecretary Tarun Pareek refers to a sports ministry order “abstaining the newly elected executive committee of the WFI from administering and managing the day-to-day activities of the federation”.
It adds that an “ad hoc committee may be constituted by the IOA to manage and control the affairs of the WFI”.
While the communication does not elaborate on its reference to “the influence and control of the WFI’s former office-bearers”, wrestling administrators said the federation was now operating out of Brij Bhushan’s official bungalow as MP rather than its own office.
They also underlined the “haste” in which the WFI had on Thursday, hours after Sanjay Singh’s election, announced two age-group nationals from December 28 “without following due procedure or giving sufficient notice to wrestlers” for preparations.
The choice of venue for the tournaments — Brij Bhushan’s bastion of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh – — too had raised eyebrows and caused concern among the women wrestlers who have accused the MP of harassment.
Sanjay Singh told reporters he would meet the sports minister and seek revocation of the suspension. He did not rule out moving court against the ministry.
Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, one of the faces of the weeks-long agitation at Jantar Mantar that men and women wrestlers had waged last summer seeking Brij Bhushan’s arrest on harassment charges, welcomed the suspension of the WFI.
“It is the first step towards something good happening. I hope the government understands better what cause we were fighting for,” Sakshi, 31, who had announced her retirement in protest at Sanjay Singh’s election, said.
“If a woman federation president is there, it will be better for the safety of women wrestlers. It was a fight for the sisters and daughters of the country.”
Sakshi had on Saturday voiced concern at the WFI decision to hold the under-15 and under-20 nationals in Gonda.
“Women wrestlers are not comfortable travelling to Gonda since it’s Brij Bhushan’s area. Don’t we have any other venue in this country other than Gonda to organise tournaments,” she had written in Hindi on X.
State woes
The suspension of the WFI means the two nationals are now scrapped. State wrestling associations that this newspaper spoke to said they were now counting their losses after hurriedly organising trials over the past two days and, in the case of at least one of them, buying air tickets for their contingents.
“In hindsight, yes, the WFI could have acted more professionally.
“We organised the trials and then came to know that the nationals are not happening and the ministry has suspended the federation,” Asit Kumar Saha, a senior official with the West Bengal Wrestling Association, said.
Saha, part of the Sanjay Singh panel, was elected as one of the four WFI vice-presidents and secured the second-highest vote tally of 44.
