New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi of the Congress on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi after multiple World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat on Saturday returned her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award. Vinesh Phogat kept the two awards lying in the middle of New Delhi’s Kartavya Path after the Delhi Police stopped her from reaching the prime minister’s office.
“For every daughter of the country, self-respect comes first, any other medal or honor comes after that. Today, did the price of ‘political benefits’ received from a ‘proclaimed Bahubali’ exceed the tears of these brave daughters? The Prime Minister is the guardian of the nation, it hurts to see such cruelty on his part”. wrote Rahul Gandhi on X.
Four days after announcing that she would return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award, wrestler Vinesh Phogat left the accolades on a pavement on Kartavya Path in New Delhi on Saturday. She did this after the Delhi Police stopped her from going to the Prime Minister’s office.
The Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medallist had announced her decision to return the awards in an open letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday. This had come days after Sakshee Malikkh said she was retiring from wrestling and Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri.
The three wrestlers were at the forefront of the protests against then-Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The BJP MP had been accused of sexual harassment by several women wrestlers.
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