Vinesh Phogat Refused To Take PM Modi's Call After Paris Olympics? Congress Leader Makes BIG Claim

Congress candidate Vinesh Phogat declined PM Modi's call before the Haryana elections, alleging it was a publicity stunt.

Vinesh Phogat the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympic final (Image: PTI)

Source : PTI

Days before voting for the Haryana Assembly election 2024, Congress candidate from the Julana legislative segment and former wrestler Vinesh Phogat is once again making headlines after she revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to speak to her after the Paris Olympics fiasco The Indian wrestler, who recently announced her retirement after being disqualified from the Paris 2024 Olympics, claimed that she, however, declined PM's call and explained the scenario in details.

As per the wrestler-turned-politician, the Prime Minister did not call her directly but she was informed about it by Indian officials in Paris. In an interview with Lallantop, she claimed that the interaction was planned as a social media gimmick, because of which she refused to take the call. Phogat said she did not want her emotions and efforts to be leveraged for political gain.

"The call had come (from PM) but I refused to speak. The call did not come directly to me but Indian officials who were there informed me that he (PM Modi) wanted to talk. I was ready. However, they put conditions - no one from my team would be present, while two people from their side would record the conversation for social media," Vinesh told the Lallantop.

"I asked if it would be posted on social media. They said, yes. So, I said sorry, I won’t let my emotions and hard work be made a joke on social media like that," she added.

The Congress candidate asserted that she would have liked to have a genuine conversation with the Prime Minister without publicising it. Notably, PM Modi interacted with all the athletes who won medals in the Olympics to congratulate them.

"If they truly have sympathy for any player, he could have called without recording it, and I would have been grateful. Maybe he knows if I speak to Vinesh she will definitely ask for the account of the last two years, and that's why they refused. Maybe that's why I was instructed that there will be no phone from my side because they can edit (video) from their end but I will not edit. I will post the original video. So they denied," the Julana candidate added. 

Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympic final, was the face of the 2023 protest against former BJP MP and then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations. She was disqualified from the Paris Olympics, just before the finals, after being found overweight by about 100 grams in her 50-kilogramme category weigh-in.