New Delhi: India’s top wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Sangita Phogat, Bajrang Punia and their supporters were detained from different parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana as they marched towards the new parliament building on Sunday. The wrestlers were manhandled by the police while Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new parliament building amidst a boycott by 21 opposition parties.
Modi performed religious rituals in the parliament complex and was cheered with chants of “Modi-Modi” inside the parliament while the protest site at Jantar Mantar, where wrestlers have been protesting for more than a month, was dismantled by the police.
Indian wrestlers had given a call to hold ‘Mahila Samman Mahapanchayat’ outside the controversial new parliament building to protest inaction by the government against BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India’s president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Farmers’ unions from Punjab, Haryana and UP had come out in support of the protesting wrestlers.
“Naya desh apko mubarak (Congratulations on the New India),” wrestler Vinesh Phogat said while sitting in a police bus as she was taken into custody. Vinesh, like Olympian Sakshi Malik, was dragged by several Delhi policewomen and put on a bus and taken to an undisclosed location.
Journalist Mandeep Punia has also been taken to the Bawana Police station where at least a 100 people including three minors have been detained by the police. Thirty-five-year-old farmer Mandeep Krantikari, also in detention, said, “We were called by the police to talk at Jantar Mantar. Since day one we have been protesting against the government peacefully but today they have showed extreme brutality.”
“The government is trying to muzzle our voices, but the more they try to suppress our protest, the more it will grow,”he added.
Seventy-seven-year-old Madhu Prasad, who has also been detained at the Bawana Police station, said,”I think we have been kidnapped by the Delhi Police. We were standing there in support of the wrestlers and doing nothing but they started dragging old people. Then I too was held by a policewoman.”
Seventy-year-old Girvar Singh, who alleged he was detained, said that the women were dragged and their clothes were torn by the Delhi Police in its heavy-handed action against the wrestlers and their supporters.
Shreya, a student of Delhi University and an activist of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), alleged that she was dragged, her clothes torn and she was manhandled by the police.
She said, “Today they are inaugurating Parliament and claiming that it is a temple of democracy. But we are not being allowed to peacefully protest and are being detained. Police had started detaining people since early morning. We were dragged the day we had protested in the Delhi University in support of the wrestlers as well.”
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh)’s seven buses were detained; two from Kundli border, three while they were on their way from Ambala to Jantar Mantar and two were not allowed to Shahpur and Tharwa Majri village of Haryana’s Ambala district..
Nearly 35 farmers’ leaders and their supporters who were heading to Jantar Mantar were detained from Delhi-Haryana’s Kundli-Singhu border and have been kept at Mohana police station near Sonipat, according to farm leader Tejveer Singh. Detainees include Amarjit Mohri President of BKU (SBS), Baldev Zira of BKU (Krantikari), Gurpreet Sangha, Ranjit Singh Raju of Grameen Kisan Samiti (GKS)and Sukhwinder Singh Aulakh.
Tejveer alleged that their pick up truck carrying langar for the protestors was stopped in Haryana. Sarwan Pandher, farmers’ leader from Punjab’s Majha region along with 300 women farmers was not allowed to leave Manji Sahib Gurudwara of Haryana’s Ambala district to join the protest.
BKU (Ugarhan) led a protest in Punjab’s Mohali in support of the wrestlers and against the Enforcement Directorate’s decision to summon farmers’ leader Navsharan Kaur for questioning.
Farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait and his supporters were also stopped at Ghazipur border of Delhi.
After the police crackdown on women wrestlers, India’s top opposition leaders reacted on Twitter.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted a video of Vinesh Phogat being dragged by the Delhi police with the caption, “Rajabishek Poora hua, Ahankari Raja sad par kuchal raha hai janta ki awaz.”
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, “Desh ka maan vadane wale hamare khiladiyon ke sath aisa bartav behad galat evam nindniye hai.”
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, “Strongly condemn the way Delhi Police manhandled Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and other wrestlers. It’s shameful our champions are treated in this manner. Democracy lies in tolerance but autocratic forces thrive on intolerance and quelling of dissent. I demand they be immediately released by police. I stand by our wrestlers.”