Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Saturday told Reuters that she had been hurt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the wrestlers’ allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
But he was not just interested in listening to my concerns... he was busy on his phone when I was talking to him
Vinesh Phogat on Anurag Thakur
She alleged that sports minister Anurag Thakur had remained “busy on his phone” while she was talking to him along with other wrestlers.
“I have only felt a deep sense of humiliation since I mustered the courage to protest,” Phogat said at her residence in Sonipat. “It’s been emotionally draining, the PM has not said anything about this case.”
It’s been emotionally draining, the PM has not said anything about this case
Vinesh Phogat on PM Modi
She said the wrestlers had spoken to Thakur in “greater detail”.
“But he (Thakur) was not just interested in listening to my concerns... he was busy on his phone when I was talking to him,” Phogat said.
At a meeting with the protesting wrestlers, Thakur had said the police would complete their investigation by June 15 and requested them not to demonstrate until then.
In one of the FIRs, a senior woman wrestler has said she had at a 2021 meeting with Modi complained to him about Singh and that the Prime Minister had promised to look into the matter.
Thakur’s and Modi’s offices were not immediately available for comment, Reuters added.
Phogat said that during training camps and tournaments, Singh would use “every possible way to single out young athletes and grope them repeatedly”.
“It was the same disgusting pattern over and over again,” she said.
“We wanted Singh to be dragged out of his home, but because he is a powerful man he is roaming around and we are being told to sit at home.”
She added: “The fact that no one was listening to us forced me and the others to start a public protest as we wanted the nation to know how top athletes were being mistreated.”
A close aide to Singh said all the allegations had been fabricated to tarnish his career.
Written by our bureau with Reuters report
