Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Saturday returned her Arjuna and Khel Ratna Awards in solidarity with women athletes seeking justice against powerful BJP MP Brijbushan Sharan Singh, who is accused of sexually assaulting them.
Phogat wanted to return her awards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but left them at a pavement at Delhi’s Kartavya Path near his residence after police stopped her from reaching PMO.
Fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia, who had himself returned his Padma Shri award a few days ago, shared the video of Phogat walking at Kartavya Path with her awards.
May this day not come in the life of any player. The women wrestlers of the country are going through the worst phase,” he wrote in the post on ‘X’, along with the video.The development comes just four days after she announced her decision to return the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award, country’s highest sporting honour, which she received in 2020, along with the Arjuna Award given to her earlier.
The announcement was made in a strongly worded open letter to Prime Minister Modi, in which she asked if women athletes are just meant for government ads?
“Do women athletes exist only to feature on government’s advertisements… are the protesting wrestlers traitors,” Phogat, who has been an active participant in wrestlers protest against the BJP MP, said.
“Those fancy flex boards with your advertisements have become old and Sakshi, too, has now retired. The exploiter has also said his dominance will continue and has indulged in very crude sloganeering. Just spare five minutes of your life and listen to the statements given by that man in the media, you will know what all he has done… What’s more serious is that he has forced many female wrestlers to step back. This is very scary,” she said in her letter.
Refering to the social media backlash the wrestlers have recieved for protesting against the ruling party MP, she said that when they won the medals entire country took pride in their achievements but now they are being labelled as traitors.
“Sir, our medals and awards are being said to be worth Rs 15, but these medals are dearer to us than our lives. When we won medals for the country, the whole country took pride in us. Now, when we raise our voices for justice, we are being called traitors. Are we traitors, Prime Minister?” she asked.