After her heartbreaking disqualification from the 2024 Olympics, wrestler Vinesh Phogat has met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Vinesh met Rahul on September 4, along with fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, triggering widespread speculations that the two Olympic athletes might contest on a Congress ticket in the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections. The state will go for polls on October 5.
However, no official announcement to that effect has been made yet either by the Congress or by the wrestlers themselves. Congress general secretary and Alappuzha MLA KC Venugopal however told media persons that the meeting has “nothing to do with contesting elections”.
However, news agency ANI claims that according to their sources the meeting was indeed about the upcoming polls. They also reported that Vinesh and Bajrang will be meeting Venugopal later.
Vinesh and Bajrang had been among the prominent Indian wrestlers leading the protest against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is accused of multiple counts of sexual harassment. The protests, held at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi last year were met with horrific police brutality. At the time of the protests, Vinesh had said that Brij Bhushan who is also a BJP MP, had subjected her to mental harassment to the point she had struggled with suicidal ideation. Also at the time Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president and veteran athlete PT Usha accused the protesting wrestlers of “tarnishing India’s image”.
In this backdrop, Vinesh made history at the 2024 Olympics after becoming the first Indian woman to qualify for the 50-kg freestyle finals, defeating Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman and Japan’s hitherto unbeaten Yui Susaki. Her disqualification after missing the weigh-in by 100 grams on the day of her finals against the US’s Sarah Hildebrandt, came as a double blow to many, particularly to survivors of sexual abuse who hoped to see Vinesh clinch Olympic gold.
After her disqualification scores of people across the world came forward in support, deeming it unfair, including American Olympic gold medallist wrestler Jordan Burroughs. But in India, current WFI chief Sanjay Singh who is known to be close to Brij Bhushan, blamed Vinesh for protesting, claiming that “it had affected her performance” and “cost India more medals”.