Farmer Leader Naresh Tikait Stops Wrestlers From Immersing Medals In Ganga

Farmer leader Naresh Tikait on Tuesday prevented the protesting wrestlers from immersing their medals into the river Ganga in Haridwar. He has given five days time to the government to meet the demands of the grapplers who have been demanding the arrest of WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations.

The country's top wrestlers had reached Haridwar to immerse their medals in the river Ganga as a mark of protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. However, Tikait stopped the protest and took their medals with him.

"They (wrestlers) need to be practising on mats in stadiums but have been ill-treated and forced to sit at Jantar Mantar and now at sacred Ganga Ghat. In fact, action should be taken against Brij Bhushan. We are with truth and as farmers' agitation had shown, sooner or later victory will be of truth," Hindustan Times quoted Naresh Tikait, brother of BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait, as saying.

Tikait said that the entire Indian government is trying to save the WFI chief. "There will be a Khap meeting tomorrow," he added.

"These medals are our lives, our souls. There would be no reason to live after throwing them in the Ganga today. So, we will stage a hunger strike until death at India Gate after that," read the joint statement by protesting grapplers in Hindi.

The protestors have claimed that the Prime Minister calls them their daughters, but did not even once show his concern for the grapplers. "Rather, he invited Brij Bhushan Singh to the inauguration of the new Parliament building. He even posed for photographs in bright white clothes. We have been stained by this brightness," the statement said.

"The President, who is a woman herself, sat barely two kilometres away and watched. She didn't say anything. We don't need these medals any more because this system does its own propaganda by hanging them around our necks and putting a mask on us," it said.

"They then exploit us, and put us in jail if we protest," it added.

The wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh, and Bajrang Punia have been demanding the arrest of the Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over alleged sexual harassment of female athletes, including a minor.

On the other hand, the Haridwar police said that they will not stop the wrestlers from entering the district or immersing the medals.