A day after they appealed for support, several opposition parties on Tuesday joined the wrestlers' protest on Jantar Mantar Road.
Leaders of the Congress, CPM and Aam Aadmi Party met the wrestlers on Tuesday. The CPI-backed National Federation of Indian Women protested outside the Delhi police headquarters against their "inaction".
The wrestlers resumed their protest on Sunday against inaction on their allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. They had called off a similar stir in January after Singh was compelled to step aside at the WFI.
Singh has repeatedly denied the charges and was quoted by PTI as saying, “Why to speak when (the matter) is with the Supreme Court? The matter is with the Supreme Court now, let it decide.”
The sports ministry wrote to Indian Olympic Association president P. T. Usha, on Monday, highlighting structural problems in the WFI, including the absence of the mandatory Internal Complaints Committee to examine allegations of sexual harassment. These findings emerged from the report of an oversight committee led by feted boxer MC Mary Kom.
Delhi police have asked the ministry for the report.
Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda, ex-MP Udit Raj of the Congress, CPM central committee members Brinda Karat, Hannan Mollah, and A. R. Sindhu, AAP spokesperson Reena Gupta and others met the protesters. In January, Karat had to leave after the wrestlers said they did not want to politicise the issue.
The change in stance coincided with an apparent rift among the Phogat sisters, with Vinesh — who is at the stir — distancing herself from Babita, a BJP member and part of the Mary Kom panel.
