Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday led a rally of sportspersons, past and present, to show her solidarity with the wrestlers protesting in Delhi.
Nothing short of the arrest of the Wrestling Federation of India chief, BJP parliamentarian Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, would do, Mamata said at the culmination of the march.
The protesting wrestlers have accused Singh of sexual harassment.
“The accused must be arrested. Nothing less. The BJP government cannot summon the courage to arrest a BJP leader,” Mamata said, lending her weight behind the protesting wrestlers who were desisted from throwing their international medals into the Ganga in Hardwar by a farmer leader on Tuesday.
“Players who have toiled so hard to win medals, today they are forced to go to the banks of the Ganga to throw their medals into the river. It is a matter of shame,” she said.
State sports minister Aroop Biswas organised the rally, which was led by sportspersons. It started from Hazra and culminated at Rabindra Sadan, a distance of 2.5km.
When the rally was at the Exide crossing around 4.25pm, a battery of vehicles and cops arrived. Within minutes, Mamata emerged out of a car and started walking in the forefront. Her arrival drew a large group of journalists and the rally suddenly seemed much more crowded than it was at the beginning.
The bulk of the participants were sportspersons from Calcutta and nearby districts.
Chandra Majhi, a 21-year-old athlete who was at the rear of the rally, did not know about the chief minister’s arrival.
Chandra, who specialises in 400m and 100m hurdle races, has represented Bengal in multiple national meets.
She lives with her mother, a daily wage earner, at a village near Tarakeswar in Hooghly district. Her father died when she was four.
In the run-up to tournaments, she has to leave home at 5am to come to practise at the Mohun Bagan ground by train and then bus.
“I know about the hardship an athlete must endure to represent the state. To represent the country and earn medals at the international level, one needs to put so much more effort. When an athlete decides to throw her medal into the river, she must have been through unimaginable pain and suffering,” Chandra told this newspaper.
A 17-year-old powerlifter (this newspaper is withholding her name since she is a minor) who recently won gold in an international tournament in Kerala was among the participants.
“Today, this brutality has happened to Sakshi (Malik), Vinesh (Phogat) and (Bajrang) Puniya. Tomorrow, it might happen to some other role model. If their allegations (of sexual harassment) are true, then parents would be worried about allowing their daughters to pursue sports as a career. This is extremely worrying,” said the teenager, who lives in Howrah.
A similar concern was echoed by Ranjana Chatterjee, a former footballer who has represented India, at another protest meet — in front of the statue of Gostho Paul, the iconic footballer, opposite the Eden Gardens — on the same issue.
“When we stepped out to play what was considered a men’s game, we had to fight stigma and stereotype. The present crisis threatens to push back women’s participation in sports,” she said.
The protests will continue. A candle-light demonstration has been planned near the Gostho Paul statue on Thursday evening.
During her walk, the chief minister was flanked by cricketers, footballers and athletes from the Maidan.
Mamata said: “Several players of national and international repute are here, as are budding players. I don’t want to belittle them by thanking them.”
As she walked, Mamata waved a black placard which read “WE WANT JUSTICE”.
“The wrestlers are on the road for over a month now. They’ve been thrashed, yet they are pleading for justice. All they want is action against those who have harassed their fellow players,” Mamata said.
The Bengal chief minister, who had called the wrestlers to endorse theirprotest, on Wednesday promised to “fight” till they got justice.