Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 7: Protesting wrestlers have agreed to defer their agitation till June 15, the deadline the government set for the Delhi police to complete their investigation against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh with the government also accepting most of their other demands.
The Union minister Anurag Thakur, who held another round of meetings with the agitating wrestlers on Tuesday, presented a written proposal after a five-hour meeting. It assured completion of investigation against the wrestling federation chief by June 15, but had no word on his arrest.
The proposal says the Delhi Police will complete the investigation against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is also a BJP MP, by June 15, Olympian Bajrang Punia said after the meeting. “Till then, the protest will be suspended, but the way forward will be decided after the 15th,” he said.
“We have assured the agitators that probe will be completed by June 15 and a charge-sheet will be filed. Independent elections for the Wrestling Federation will be held by June 30,” Thakur said.
The government has also accepted the wrestlers’ demand Brij Bhushan Singh and people connected to him will not be on a new internal committee of the federation, which will be headed by woman, the minister added. The government has also offered to withdraw the cases filed against wrestlers on May 28.
“We were told that police investigation will be complete by June 15. Till then, we have been asked to wait and suspend the protest,” Sakshi Malik told reporters after the meeting.
The wrestlers – who have been demanding Singh’s arrest, accusing him of sexual harassment — will discuss the proposal with their supporting organisations and convey their decision to the government, Bajrang Punia said. “We spoke on various issues, including safety of both female and male wrestlers, and the cases, that were registered against the wrestlers, will be taken back, the government has agreed to these demands,” Punia said.
The meeting today was called after Anurag Thakur’s open invite to wrestlers on Twitter. Union Home Minister Amit Shah invited the protesters for a second round of talks.
The wrestlers claim that women athletes including a minor girl had been harassed by Brij Bhushan Singh and have been demanding his immediate arrest. But the arrest of the MP, who has considerable political heft in Uttar Pradesh, has been a contentious issue.
The wrestlers had launched their campaign against Federation chief in January and stated a protest at Jantar Mantar in April, declaring they were unsatisfied with the government’s response.
The government has been insisting on allowing law to take its course – a point Amit Shah reiterated during his meeting with the wrestlers on Saturday. After the meeting, Bajrang Punia denied rumours of a settlement with the government, and reports that the minor girl had withdrawn her complaint. Declaring that the protest will continue, he said they were strategising on how to take it forward.
