Vinesh Phogat returns her Arjuna and Khel Ratna awards | Sport-others News
Wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Saturday returned her Arjuna and Khel Ratna Awards when she left them on thepavement of New Delhi’s Kartavya Path due to the police stopping her from reaching prime miner Narendra Modi’s office.A post was shared fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia which showed Phogat walking with the awards before returning them.
“May this day not come in the life of any player. The women wrestlers of the country are going through the worst phase,” the post with the video was captioned.
यह दिन किसी खिलाड़ी के जीवन में न आए। देश की महिला पहलवान सबसे बुरे दौर से गुज़र रही हैं। #vineshphogat pic.twitter.com/bT3pQngUuI
— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) December 30, 2023
A few days ago, in a strongly-worded open letter addressed to Prime Miner Narendra Modi, released via her social media platforms, Phogat had announced that she was returning the Khel Ratna which was awarded to her in 2020, along with the Arjuna Award she got earlier.
The World Championship medall said that awards “have no meaning in my life now” and “every woman wants to live life with respect”.
The 29-year-old’s decision came just days after fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri, protesting against the election of Sanjay Kumar Singh, a close aide of BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, as the WFI’s new president.
In her letter, Vinesh wrote about the time when Sakshi — in 2016 — was made one of the ambassadors of the government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign after she won a bronze medal at the Rio Olympics. Vinesh said the decision had given them hope and filled them with pride.
“Do women athletes ex only to feature on government’s advertisements… are the protesting wrestlers traitors,” she had asked.
“Those fancy flex boards with your advertisements have become old and Sakshi, too, has now retired. The exploiter has also said his dominance will continue and has indulged in very crude sloganeering. Just spare five minutes of your life and len to the statements given that man in the media, you will know what all he has done… What’s more serious is that he has forced many female wrestlers to step back. This is very scary,” she had said in her letter.
Vinesh said she has tried to forget the entire incident but it “hasn’t been easy”. “Sir, our medals and awards are being said to be worth Rs 15, but these medals are dearer to us than our lives. When we won medals for the country, the whole country took pride in us. Now, when we raise our voices for justice, we are being called traitors. Are we traitors, Prime Miner?” she had asked.
Sympathising with Bajrang, who left his Padma Shri on a footpath in central Delhi after not being allowed to hand it over in person to the PM, Vinesh had said she was “suffocating inside after seeing that photo of his”.
