Wrestlers’ advisory committee meets Sports Authority of India chief, no resolution yet

A two-person delegation, including Sandip Pradhan, Director General of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), met with members of the nine-person advisory committee made protesting wrestlers to ass them in wrestling-related matters on Saturday night at Jantar Mantar. Sakshi Malik said on Monday that no resolution or decisions were made during the talks and that the committee only put forward the wrestlers’ demands. SAI has not reached out to the wrestlers since.
The demands included the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh alleging sexual harassment and exploitation, for which Sakshi has been protesting in New Delhi alongside top wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, as well as a ban on any involvement of Brijbhushan’s family members in the WFI henceforth.
Monday marked the 16th day of the wrestlers’ protest, which has seen a remarkable amount of support from farm unions and khap leaders in the past two days after a ‘Mahapanchayat’ was held on Sunday to decide the next course of action for the wrestlers. The grapplers have also formed a 31-member committee made up of khap leaders and senior farm unions that asss them in big decision-making regarding the protest.
Videos did the rounds on social media on Monday showing farmers breaking through the police barricades at Jantar Mantar in a hurry to reach the protest site. In response, the Delhi Police were seen welding and cementing the barricades to the ground around the site to make sure there are no more security breaches. The deployment of police personnel is expected to be high in the coming days with farmers showing up in large numbers to show support.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), and other khap leaders announced with the wrestlers on Sunday that the protests will keep going until May 21, after which they will take their next major decision if no action is taken the government.

In a brief interaction with the media on Monday, Vinesh had to field more questions on whether the farmers are trying to ‘hijack’ their platform. “We come from families of farmers. To say that members of our family are ‘hijacking’ this is very wrong. The elders of our families are farmers, they are the ones advising us. If we come out to fight for justice, you don’t expect our family to come and support us?” she said. “The entire country is supporting us, so the next call will be taken the entire country, not just us. That’s why we have made the committees.”
Vinesh also revealed that the wrestlers will continue to try and train and get bout-ready, especially with the Asian Games and the Olympic qualification cycle coming up. “There is no doubt that our training is being affected badly. But if our loss will be the gain of the future generation of women wrestlers, we are willing to sacrifice that,” she said, adding that the wrestlers had a light training session on Monday.