Resistance followed by retreat seems to be the signature style of India’s ruling regime in some matters. The Narendra Modi government had stubbornly refused to repeal the farm laws till the prime minister was forced to do so in the face of a spirited protest by aggrieved farmers. Is the script of the wrestlers’ protest taking a similar turn? On Sunday, the Union sports ministry suspended the Wrestling Federation of India citing “the compelling current situation arising out of the influence and control of the WFI’s former office-bearers.” This was undoubtedly a veiled reference to the election of Sanjay Singh, a close associate of his predecessor, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament who was accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers while he was president of the WFI, as the new chief of the wrestling federation. Sakshi Malik protested against the move by quitting wrestling. Ms Malik’s announcement was followed by the return of Padma Shri awards by Bajrang Punia, the wrestler who has brought most medals to India, and by Virender Singh Yadav, the Deaflympics gold medallist, in support of the women. The new chief won against Anita Sheoran, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, thus neutralising the wrestlers’ request that a woman have that position. But the greater betrayal lay in allowing Mr Singh to contest at all: the government had promised the wrestlers that no associate of the BJP MP would be permitted to run. Electing Mr Singh demonstrated the mindset that had earlier resisted the 40-day-long protest against the former WFI chief until the Supreme Court ordered the Delhi police to file a first information report against the latter.

There is another, less obvious, betrayal hinted at in Mr Punia’s letter to the prime minister. India does not lack international-level sports or sportspersons, yet the wrestlers have felt little solidarity from their peers in their struggle for justice. A united protest from high-profile sportspersons or champions from other spheres could have been hoped for. The government, meanwhile, never failed to use the victorious wrestlers as grist to its own glory mill: any win in any field is also the prime minister’s victory. It was only when a BJP MP was accused of sexual harassment that the wrestlers’ protest had to be shoved under the carpet. Mr Punia mentioned in his protest letter that instead of being brand ambassadors for the prime minister’s campaign of saving and empowering daughters, women were being forced to leave the sport they loved. The issue is wider though, for the events demonstrate the hollowness of the BJP’s promises of safety and dignity for women in general and the irrelevance of achievement when it becomes inconvenient.