In a landmark year which saw India register their highest-ever medal tally at the Asian Games, another big talking point around the conversation of sport in the nation was the prolonged fight by the nation’s top wrestlers against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment against women wrestlers.
Some of the country’s top wrestlers, headlined by Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, gathered together at the famous Jantar Mantar in the national capital to protest against the 66-year-old Gonda native, who is also a Member of Parliament from Kaiserganj.
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The grapplers demanded that action be taken against the former president of the federation who was accused of sexual intimidation and the nation took notice as the hartal created a stir with media and observers throughout the country glued to news portals as the movement proliferated.
The wrestlers called for IOA President and former athlete PT Usha to commission an independent committee to look into the inquiry before Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur intervened with assurances that action would be taken after a thorough investigation into the complaints of harassment.
An oversight committee headed by legendary Indian boxer MC Mary Kom including former wrestler Yogeshwar Rao was put in charge of running the day-to-day affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India as the WFI elections were postponed from the originally intended date.
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The hartal was called off and the protestors dispersed following the guarantee offered by the Sports Minister but reconvened in April after police had refused to file a complaint against Brij Bhushan before the intervention of the Supreme Court which directed the Delhi Police to register a FIR against the 66-year-old taking into account the grievance of the female wrestlers and follow it up with statements from the parties involved.
The Sports Ministry stalled the WFI election, scheduled to be held on the 7th of May, and asked the oversight committee to continue running the federation until the polls could be held and a new body could come in to take power.
The protest continued into the month of May as wrestlers took to even sleeping on the streets to drive home the point of the protest while courts in Assam, Haryana and …
On the 3rd of May, a scuffle broke out in the protest site as wrestlers claimed some policemen misbehaved with female grapplers and manhandled the protestors in a state of inebriation. Some wrestlers were left with injuries in the aftermath of the clash between the forces and the demonstrators.
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The three women wrestlers, who had launched the complaint against Brij Bhushan recorded their statements with the Delhi Police on the 5th of May as seven complaints were registered.
The protesters challenged the former chief to a NARCO test to get to the truth. Brij Bhushan, who decried the allegations levelled against him, recorded his side of the story in statements to the police on the 11th of May.
The wrestlers, who decided to march to the new Parliament on the day of the inauguration were detained by the police on grounds of obstruction of public servants on duty.
Disgruntled grapplers, who were getting tired of all the red tape and bureaucracy hampering their fight for justice decided to immerse their medals for the country in water as they reached Haridwar. However, the wrestlers were advised by the Khaps against throwing the medals away in the cut and were asked to continue their struggle for justice.
The entire incident was frowned upon by the International Olympic Committee and the body responsible for wrestling, United World Wrestling.
In a twisted turn of events, the father of a minor female wrestler, who had also launched a complaint, admitted that they had intentionally levelled the false complaint against Brij Bhushan in an act of vengeance.
The Sports Minister offered assurances and expressed that the wrestlers would be done right by as the protestors called off the strike again in hopes of justice being served.
The WFI polls which were slated to be held on the 6th of July now, were yet again rescheduled as five disaffiliated state bodies demanded that they be granted the right to vote too, and the date was moved to the 11th of July.
Meanwhile, the final selection to represent India at the Asian Games in Hangzhou was thrown in a spiral as six protesting grapplers were granted an exemption from the selection process, which triggered an angry rebuttal from several young participants and their parents.
The election process was yet again stayed, this time by the Assam Court, to the 7th of August before further being delayed due to petitions being filed by courts in Haryana and Punjab.
Due to the repeated delays in the timeframe for the elections, the world wrestling body, the UWW, suspended the WFI as things started to spiral.
Finally, following the conclusion of the Asian Games, the date for the much-delayed WFI election was decided as the polls were slated to be held on the 21st of December.
The polls for the top spot in the federation was contested between between former Commonwealth Games gold medalist Anita Sheoran and Brij Bhushan-loyalist Sanjay Singh, while Brij Bhushan himself, who had maxed out his tenure at the helm of the WFI, and his family members were banned from contesting the election.
The disgruntled wrestlers expressed their support for Sheoran, citing that only a former wrestler who had knowledge of the ongoing in the federation could help fix the issues plaguing the national body. But to the dismay of the wrestlers, Sanjay Singh won the poll by a landslide, which was followed by massive celebrations at the Brij Bhushan camp.
However, on the other side of the spectrum, in a shocking move, Olympic bronze winner and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling following the victory of the Brij Bhushan-loyalist in a tearful presser, while Bajrang, arguably the biggest name in modern day wrestling in India returned the Padma Shri award in protest.
There was yet another twist in the tale as the newly elected WFI body was suspended for a lack of transparency following the announcement of the venue for the U15 and U20 nationals, which was slated to be held in Gonda, the Brij Bhushan-territory.
“The new body has not followed the WFI constitution. We have not terminated the Federation but suspended it till further orders. They just need to follow the due process and the rules," a sports ministry official stated.
“Sanjay Kumar Singh, newly-elected president of WFI announced on 21.12.2023, the day he was elected as president, that U-15 and U-20 nationals for Wrestling will take place in Nandini Nagar, Gonda (UP) before the end of this year. This announcement is hasty, without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers who are to take part in the said nationals and without following the provisions of the constitution of WFI," the ministry justified their suspension of the newly formed WFI body.
On the 26th of December, just days after Punia had returned his Padma Shri and Sakshi’s incredibly powerful decision to quit the sport with an announcement at a presser, Phogat wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister of the nation stating that she would be returning her Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award.
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