Vinesh Phogat has announced that she will return her Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and her Arjuna Award - the two highest sporting honours awarded in India - in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Via her social media channels, Vinesh said that this act is in protest of the issues plaguing Indian wrestling. This comes a few days after fellow champion wrestler Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri with a letter addressed to the PM, at the gates of the PM's residence.
In her letter, Vinesh wrote that she "had dreamt of winning an Olympic medal, but that dream is fading now. I just pray that this dream of the upcoming female athletes is definitely fulfilled." She said she too was "feeling disgusted" with her awards and that image of her receiving these awards was a dream, but what is happening with them now is the reality. She said, "every woman wants to live life with respect."
Here is the full text of the letter she posted:
"Sakshi Malik has quit wrestling and Bajrang Punia has returned his Padma Shri. The whole country knows why the players who won Olympic medals for the country were forced to do all this and you are the head of the country, so this matter must have reached you too. Prime Minister, I am Vinesh Phogat, the daughter of your house and I am writing this letter to you to tell you about the condition I am in for the last one year.
I remember the year 2016, when Sakshi Malik won a medal in the Olympics, your government made her the brand ambassador of the "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" program. When this was announced, all the women athletes of the country were happy and sent congratulatory messages to each other.
Today, ever since Sakshi has quit wrestling, my mind goes back to the year 2016. Are we female players made only to appear on government advertisements? We have no objection to those advertisements being published, because from the slogans written in them, it appears that your government wants to work for the upliftment of daughters. I had dreamt of winning an Olympic medal, but that dream is fading now. I just pray that this dream of the upcoming female athletes is definitely fulfilled.
But our lives are not at all like those fancy advertisements. What the women wrestlers have experienced in the last few years must have made one understand how suffocated we are living. Those fancy flex boards of your advertisements must have become old and now Sakshi has also retired.
The exploiter has also declared his dominance, and has also raised slogans in a very crude manner. Spare five minutes of your life and listen to the statements given by that man in the media, you will know what all he has done. He has not left even a single opportunity to humiliate us women players. What is more serious is that it has forced many female wrestlers to step back. This is very scary.
I've tried to forget this incident many times, but it is not so easy. Sir, when I met you, I had told you about this too. We have been dragging ourselves on the streets for the last one year for justice. No one is taking care of us.
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 was proud. Now, when we raise our voice for justice, we are being called traitors. Prime Minister, I want to ask you, are we traitors?
I don't know under what condition Bajrang would have decided to return his Padma Shri. But I am suffocating inside after seeing that photo of his. After that now I too have started feeling disgusted with my awards. When I received these awards, my mother distributed sweets in the neighborhood and told my aunts that I was on TV and they should watch it. She told them that her daughter looked beautiful receiving the award.
Many times I get scared thinking that when my aunts see our condition on TV, what will she say to my mother? No mother in India would want her daughter to be in this condition. Now I want to get rid of the image of Vinesh receiving the award, because that was a dream and what is happening with us now is the reality.
I was given the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and Arjuna award, which have no meaning in my life now. Every woman wants to live life with respect.
Therefore Prime Minister sir, I want to return my Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and Arjun Award to you so that these awards do not become a burden to us in our path to live with dignity.
A daughter of your house,
Vinesh Phogat"