New Delhi: Having rejoined their government duty with Indian Railways, the wrestlers clarified that it didn’t mean they had withdrawn the protest against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Later in the evening, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik accused Brij Bhushan of issuing “job threats.”
Without naming the WFI chief, Olympic medallists Sakshi and Punia, along with Asian Games & Commonwealth champion Vinesh claimed that they were being blackmailed by threatening with their jobs.
“Those who told our medals to be worth Rs 15 each are now after our jobs. Our life is at stake, a job is a very small thing in comparison. If the job is seen to be an obstacle in the way of justice, then we will not take even ten seconds to leave it. Do not blackmail us by threatening us with our jobs,” Sakshi, Punia and Vinesh tweeted in Hindi.
हमारे मेडलों को 15-15 रुपए के बताने वाले अब हमारी नौकरी के पीछे पड़ गये हैं.
हमारी ज़िंदगी दांव पर लगी हुई है, उसके आगे नौकरी तो बहुत छोटी चीज़ है.
अगर नौकरी इंसाफ़ के रास्ते में बाधा बनती दिखी तो उसको त्यागने में हम दस सेकेंड का वक्त भी नहीं लगाएँगे. नौकरी का डर मत दिखाइए.
— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) June 5, 2023
It was a reference to Brij Bhushan, who said in a recent TV interview, about the wrestlers’ threat to immerse their medals in Ganga, that gthey should “return the money… the medals will be sold for Rs 15.”
Vinesh hit out against those spreading ‘fake reports’ about their protest having ended.
“Do those who spread fake news even realise the trauma that women wrestlers are going through? Weak media has legs that start trembling in front of a goon’s hunter, not a female wrestler,” Vinesh tweeted.
