NEW DELHI: Top Indian grapplers who were detained and uprooted from their protest site at Jantar Mantar have announced to throw their medal in Ganga river today evening and sit on an indefinite hunger strike at the India Gate.
Taking to Twitter, elite wrestlers Sakshee Malikkh, Bajrang Punia and Sangeeta Phogat put out their statement in Hindi which read- “These medals are our lives, our souls. There would be no reason to live after throwing them in the Ganga today. So, we will stage a hunger strike until death at India Gate after that.”
The wrestlers said the Prime Minister “who calls us our daughters”, did not even once show his concern for the grapplers. “Rather, he invited the ‘oppressor’ (Brij Bhushan Singh) to the inauguration of the new Parliament building. He even posed for photographs in bright white clothes. We have been stained by this brightness,” the statement further added.
Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sangeeta Phogat, Sakshi Malik and several others were detained by Delhi Police on Sunday when they attempted to move towards the new Parliament building for ‘Mahila Mahapanchayat’. Following a scuffle with security personnel,
Disturbing videos of police action against elite wrestlers emerged from Jantar Mantar, which will now remain out of bounds for them. Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia have been booked for rioting and obstructing public servants on duty along with other protesters.