“The Congress was the only one who understood our tears,” Vinesh Phogat said, minutes after joining the party on Friday. Calling it a new chapter in her life, the wrestler-turned-politician said she would continue to work for the rights of other athletes.
Referring to the ongoing sexual harassment case against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Brij Bhushan Singh, Phogat said, “This is a new chapter in my life. I will work hard for other athletes so that they do not have to go through what we went through.”
Read more: Vinesh Phogat to contest Assembly elections from Jhulana in Haryana elections
#WATCH | Delhi | On joining the Indian National Congress, Vinesh Phogat said, “Thank you Indian National Congress Party. When we were being dragged on the road, all parties except BJP were with us. I am proud to have joined the Indian National Congress Party.” pic.twitter.com/FIV1FLQeXa — ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024
Phogat said when the wrestlers were protesting on the streets, all political parties except the BJP stood by them.
“I could have stopped wrestling at Jantar Mantar as the BJP’s IT wing was propagating that we were underpowered. They said I didn’t want to compete in the national championships but I did. They said I didn’t want to do the preliminaries but I did it… They said I could not go to the Olympics but I did… Unfortunately, it was not God’s will,” she said.
“The fight is on. It is not over yet. It is being fought in court. We will win that fight too. With the new platform that we have in our hands today, we will work for the nation. Just as we played the game with our hearts, we will give our best for the people. I want to tell my sisters that I am with you. If there is no one for you, then I am there. The Congress party is there. I have felt this. And I can assure you that we will be there,” she added.
“I’ll talk about it someday”…: Phogat talks about medal fight at the Paris Olympics
Speaking about the disqualification ahead of the Paris Olympic final, the wrestler said she would reveal more about the controversy at some point. When asked if there was a political conspiracy behind the disqualification, she said: “I will go into detail because it’s a very emotional thing for me. Please bear with me. I will tell you at some point.”
Vinesh, who advanced to the finals with three dominant victories in the women’s 50kg freestyle at the Paris Olympics, including a win over Japan’s Yui Susaki, a stalwart of the wrestling world, was 100 grams over the limit at the traditional morning weigh-in and therefore could not compete in the gold medal match against eventual winner Sarah Hildebrand of the United States.
At his inauguration press conference, Venugopal alleged that Phogat had received a show-cause notice from the railways after meeting Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday. Party sources said the notice stated that meeting a political leader was a violation of service rules.
Venugopal asked whether it was an offence to meet the leader of the Opposition and asked the railway authorities to remove Phogat from his post and not play “political games”.
Phogat contests Haryana polls against Julana
Phogat will be contesting from Jhulana constituency in the Haryana Assembly elections. Her name was finalised at the Indian National Congress’ Central Election Committee meeting on Friday. However, wrestler Bajrang Punia, who joined the major party along with Phogat, has not been given official nomination to contest in the state assembly elections.
Bajrang Punia joins Congress
Meanwhile, wrestler Bajrang Punia, who joined the long-established party along with Phogat, said he was committed to strengthening the Congress party and the nation.
“…What the BJP IT cell is saying today is that we just wanted to do politics…We had written to all women BJP MPs to stand with us but still they did not come. We are paying to raise women’s voice but now we know that the BJP supports atrocities against women and all other parties stand with us. We will work hard to strengthen the Congress Party and the nation…The day Vinesh made it to the finals the whole country rejoiced but the next day everyone was sad. At that time one IT cell was celebrating…,” Punia said.
#WATCH | Delhi | On joining the Congress, Bajrang Punia said, “…BJP IT Cell is saying today that we just wanted to do politics…We wrote to all the women MPs of BJP to stand with us but still they did not come. We are paying to raise women’s voice but BJP… pic.twitter.com/FGViVeGJLY — ANI (@ANI) September 6, 2024
Phogat and Punia joined the party in the presence of Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, spokesperson Pawan Khera and Haryana Congress leader Uday Bhan. They had earlier met Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
Punia and Phogat had taken part in months of protests in 2023 over sexual harassment allegations made against former BJP MP and then WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh.
Railways to send ‘show cause notice’ to Phogat
Northern Railway officials confirmed that a show-cause notice was served on the wrestler on September 4, asking him to clarify his stand on joining any political party.
“The notification was issued on September 4 after media reports emerged that Phogat had met Rahul Gandhi and would join the Indian National Congress,” the official told news agency PTI.
“She has been asked to clarify her stand as being a government employee, joining a political party would be a violation of service rules,” he added.
Nationalist Congress Party leader KC Venugopal on Friday alleged that Phogat had received a show-cause notice after he resigned from the railways, a charge denied by Northern Railway CPRO Himanshu Upadhyay.
Brij Bhushan: “Any BJP candidate will beat them.”
Brij Bhushan Singh played down the political entry of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, saying any BJP candidate would beat them if they contested in Haryana and also offered to campaign in the upcoming state assembly elections if the party allowed.
“These wrestlers made a name for themselves in the sports world and were famous for their wrestling prowess. But now that they have joined the National Conference, their names will be erased,” he said.Phogat and Punia, who had earlier spearheaded the wrestlers’ protest against the then WFI president Singh, had joined the National Conference on a vow that they would “not be afraid or back down”.
BJP response
BJP leaders reacted to the development with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini saying the grand old party was only playing politics in the name of wrestlers’ protest.
He said that if they wanted to give party nomination to these wrestlers, they could have given them Rajya Sabha nomination but they are just playing politics.
“Anyone can join any party, but people and intellectuals will have questions. I won’t answer that question, but people will certainly have questions,” said Sambit Patra, a spokesman for the party and a member of parliament.
Senior BJP leader Anil Vij also criticised the wrestler and said if she wants to go from ‘desh ki beti’ to ‘Congress ki beti’, then what objection could there be?
“…If Vinesh wants to go from being a daughter of the country to being a daughter of the Congress Party, what objection do we have?” the former Haryana Home Minister said.
Vij said that the Indian National Congress had been trying to bring these athletes in from day one and it was due to their agitation that the wrestlers started campaigning in Delhi.
He said that the ongoing protests in Delhi are at their (Indian National Congress) instigation, otherwise the issue would have been resolved long ago.
