FIGHT TO THE FINISH

The untimely rains in the national capital have failed to douse the anger of the country's top wrestlers who have been staging a most dramatic protest at Jantar Mantar since April 23. In many ways, it's the fight of their lives.

- Prashant Srivastava

Even as the Delhi Police on April 28-following the Supreme Court's intervention-registered two FIRs of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and six-time Lok Sabha MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the grapplers say they won't give up till he is arrested. A Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Uttar Pradesh's Kaiserganj parliamentary seat, Brij Bhushan is accused of sexually harassing seven women wrestlers, including a minor.

Since May 1, the protest site has seen a quick makeover given the change in Delhi's weather. Mattresses on which the protesters and their supporters used to sleep have now been put away. A makeshift cover of tarpaulin sheets has come up to shield those who continue to spend night after night at Jantar Mantar. Even as the number of supporters has dwindled, owing both to the rain and appeals made to them to return home, many continue to stand in solidarity with the wrestlers, who are led by Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat and Olympics bronze medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia.

It was tough to stand up against powerful people, says Vinesh, and "appealing to the public was the only avenue left" after no action was taken despite repeated appeals to the authorities. In fact, the wrestlers had first launched a sit-in at Jantar Mantar on January 18, but it was called off soon after a meeting with Union sports minister Anurag Thakur, who ordered the constitution of an oversight committee to probe the allegations. Even though the panel submitted its report in the first week of April, its contents were not made public. Amid reports that it gave Brij Bhushan a clean chit and the WFI announcing its election for May 7 (later declared "null and void" by the sports ministry), the wrestlers decided to return to the protest site.