Vinesh Phogat’s journey home was a victory rally fit for the Olympic medallist she could have been.

At tents pitched along the 150-odd kilometres from Delhi airport to her home in Balali, Haryana, crowds showered rose and marigold petals, offered her laddoos, and presented her with mementos of national leaders and deities.

It did not matter to them that she had been disqualified before her gold-medal bout — for being overweight by just over 100 grams. She was their champion for trying against all odds, a heroine of the resistance against the BJP, forged in the fight against Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, the then MP and wrestling federation chief accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers.

Vinesh came out of Terminal 3 at Delhi airport perched on the roof of an SUV. She was flanked by fellow wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshee Malikkh, and Congress MP Deepender Hooda.

Punia and Malikkh were Vinesh’s comrades-in-arms in the wrestlers’ agitation against Brijbhushan last year. Hooda is MP for Rohtak, Haryana, and former president of the state wrestling association — a likely beneficiary of the unease in Haryana’s wrestling community after the sexual harassment controversy.

Wrestler Vinesh Phogat with wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda poses for photos on her arrival after Paris Olympics heartbreak, at IGI airport, in New Delhi. PTI

Assembly elections in Haryana were declared on Friday, and Hooda stepped off the rooftop perch way before the motorcade entered Haryana.

The troll offensive on X against Vinesh in particular and her Jat community in general, for her sharing the car roof with the Congress leader, was not reflected on the ground. “Why aren’t other politicians with her?” was the refrain.

Earlier, drumbeats resounded at Delhi airport. Several foreigners joined in the impromptu Bhangra by her supporters — farmer union members, students, sportspersons, leaders of khap panchayats.

As the time for Vinesh’s arrival drew near, members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) — active in the farmer protests — huddled around an SUV with Punia inside. The group’s spokesman, Tejveer Singh, told The Telegraph that they had come from Ambala, Haryana.

“We are here so she knows that we all think she deserved the medal. Her achievements are far greater than any medal. She exposed sexual harassment in sports,” he said.

“We see students and women protesting today against sexual crimes. Farmers and workers have been protesting against the injustice to them. The question all of us are raising is: Is India truly free?”

Village elders from Vinesh’s home district of Charkhi Dadri waited behind a wall of security personnel. Some officers managed the crowds; some of them clicked photos of Vinesh. The elders discussed how they would present a gold medal to her when she arrived home.

“Maybe she should have shaved her head to lose those extra 100 grams. We see her as a winner as she went so far despite fighting the government,” said Nek Ram, a retired soldier.

In a crowd of mostly tall people, retired St Stephen’s College professor Nandita Narain stood on her toes to catch a glimpse of Vinesh.

“I live in Noida (40km away). I just had to come. She is our hero, a warrior who best represents the Indian spirit,” Narain said.

Vinesh, wearing a garland of ₹100 notes, broke down when she saw the crowds. Her whispered “Thank you” was drowned out by the sloganeering. She managed to shout over the slogans, saying: “Our struggle will go on.”

Hooda first offered her laddoos after she had dried her tears. Before her cavalcade could exit the airport, another garland, of ₹500 notes, was placed on her. Many more laddoos and garlands were offered along the way, as were framed pictures of Jat leader and colonial-era politician Sir Chhotu Ram.

“The MP shouldn’t have got onto the car,” an airport employee said out loud. An elderly man near him asked, “But where are all the other Jat leaders?”

Before entering Haryana, Vinesh stopped to pray at the Shri Shyam Mandir in Pochanpur village. Children with ₹20 garlands strove to worm their way through the crowd to meet her.

She spotted them before she left and quickly signed autographs for them — a rarity now in the selfie era --- accepted their garlands and whispered something in their ears. The children broke out in a gleeful dance.

“She asked me to practise well, and to never miss practice,” 12-year-old kabaddi player Aditi Joon told this newspaper.

“She said I too should reach the Olympics,” her wrestler friend Manju Sehrawat said.

While cricket reigns supreme in the cities, in the villages here wrestling, kabaddi and boxing are equally popular.

The father of a young girl wrestler in Pochanpur said: “All the children look up to Vinesh. They will remember this day all their lives.”

In Sector 110 of Gurgaon, Haryana, a knot of housewives was waiting to see Vinesh.

“She should try for the Olympics again; the elders should convince her,” was the common sentiment among them.

Asked what they thought of Hooda’s presence earlier in her cavalcade, one of them, Saroj, replied: “The whole of Haryana supports her. Other leaders should also come and encourage her. Our daughters will lose hope if society does not support them.”

A crowd blocked the road to Badli near the Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University, pleading with Vinesh to stop for tea or at least have a laddoo.

Vinesh bowed and folded her hands. “Please, we have a long way to go,” the driver said. “She is tired.”

With a shower of petals, she was allowed to leave.

Pramod Vasisht of Chandu village passed on bags of petals to those moving ahead with the cavalcade to shower on her later. He then began to share online the photos he had clicked of her.

Asked about the casteist tone of the discourse on social media, he said: “All communities have come to greet her. I am a Brahmin. She is seen as a champion of India. That (lost) medal doesn’t matter....”

He added: “Even though Deependerji joined her, we are not here for politics. He is a leader and every leader and elder should come out to support her today. She has worked so hard. She deserves the love of the people.”