The protesting wrestlers on Tuesday decided not to "immerse" their medals in the Ganga as had been intended earlier. Their decision came after farmers' leader Naresh Tikait reached the Har Ki Pauri ghat in Haridwar and urged them to reconsider their decision to immerse their hard-earned medals in the holy river, Ganga.
The wrestlers, however, handed over their medals to Bharatiya Kisan Union President Naresh Tikait. The wrestlers handed over their medals with the condition that Tikait help them get "justice" and have WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh arrested within five days. Eminent wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malik, Bajrang Punia, and others have been demanding Singh's arrest, accusing him of sexually harassing young talents.
Before Tikait arrived at the ghat, the Ganga Sabha, which looks after the affairs of the holy river, had issued a diktat in the evening, forbidding the immersion of the medals. The wrestlers had chosen Har ki pauri, a revered spot on the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar, to bid farewell to their medals. May 30 coincided with Ganga Dussehra in Haridwar, drawing a substantial crowd to witness the wrestlers' poignant gesture.
Earlier, in a heartfelt statement shared on her Twitter handle, Vinesh Phogat expressed the significance of the medals, stating, "These medals are our life and soul. We are going to immerse them in the Ganges because she is Maa Ganga. After that, there is no point in living, so we will sit on a hunger strike until death at India Gate."
The wrestlers' statement emphasized the symbolism of India Gate, a site associated with the sacrifices made by martyrs for the country.
"India Gate is the place of those martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the country. We are not as holy as them, but our emotions while competing at the international level are similar to those soldiers," Sakshi Malik, a bronze medalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics, said in a Tweet earlier.
Wrestlers Detained During New Parliament Opening
On Sunday, Delhi Police detained Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia, another Olympic medalist and bronze winner at the World Championships. Subsequently, FIRs were filed against the wrestlers for violating law and order.
Disturbing scenes unfolded as police forcibly removed the Olympic and world championships medal-winning athletes when they breached the security cordon during their march toward the newly inaugurated Parliament building for the planned women's 'Mahapanchayat'.
Denied permission to proceed toward the new Parliament building, tensions escalated, resulting in clashes between the protesters and police. The wrestlers and their supporters were taken to various locations in the national capital before being released. Later, the police cleared the protest site, removing the cots, mattresses, coolers, fans, and tarpaulin ceiling, along with other belongings belonging to the wrestlers.