AMID ALL the successes of the Asian Games, at the chess board and in badminton arenas around the world, there was one story that dominated our mindspace: The protests by some of India's greatest wrestlers against the system, specifically against the president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The protests - in two phases, in the heart of New Delhi - were historic in Indian sport because never before had current, elite athletes challenged the system so publicly, so strongly, and for such a sustained period. The results were mixed: the immediate impact was to force Singh to step down and face criminal charges - including allegations of sexual assault - and, for a period, turn the spotlight onto these issues within the WFI. Then the story slipped off most news cycles, the police investigation against Singh continued its winding journey and, almost predictably, Singh was replaced as WFI president by one of his close associates.
There was a late twist to the tale, though, when another round of protests by Bajrang, who symbolically left his Padma Shri at the gates of the Prime Minister's residence, and Sakshi, who tearfully announced her retirement from the sport, forced the Sports Ministry to suspend the newly elected WFI committee. Vinesh Phogat, too, returned her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award with a heartfelt letter to the PM.
From the freezing cold of January to the searing heat of the Delhi summer, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia gave us an unprecedented story of courage, selflessness, and commitment. It's a story that goes far beyond sport and touches on many issues that resonate in other walks of life. Not least, how to use your privilege and position to help others, even if it means you risk losing everything.
Here, for the first time, Vinesh and Sakshi tell us in their own words the story of those six months. A story that changed their life forever. A story whose impact on Indian wrestling, and Indian sport overall, we are still feeling.
(ESPN spoke to the wrestlers before the WFI elections)
The idea of the protest takes seed
Vinesh:
We had been talking about it (the issues of sexual assault, harassment within the WFI) for 2-3 months before the protest. Somvir (her husband, also a wrestler) and I had also spoken about it and felt that it was getting too much but we just kept discussing it. When Bajrang and I also spoke about it, he said "But what can we do? The two of us cannot change the system." So, we had such discussions. Then I went to Bulgaria, spoke to Bajrang again on call, and the same process followed. We just spoke about it and tried to see how we can change things.
I have children in my family who are into wrestling and what began to bother me was: what if something wrong happened to them? You can ignore what happens outside, but when children from your house face a threat...given my seniority, it affected me. It got me thinking about what I would do if something were to happen to these innocent children. That was my biggest trigger point.
We honestly did not think it would be such a long process (the entire issue). We did not plan for 5-6 months...athletes usually don't open up easily, even with each other, about such matters. But somehow the wrestlers got together, everyone was troubled and together they all said ladenge [we will fight]. However, none of us had an idea just how difficult this fight would be. We thought we would protest, and it would be sorted out. But we didn't know that there are such people at every stage.
Sakshi:
We thought that we were champion athletes, we've won so many medals for the country and if we protest against something then it would be heard. We thought we would protest; our grievances would be heard in a day or two and it would all work out and the WFI would no longer back Brij Bhushan.
I began the year intending to compete at the Asian Games and win a medal. That was my goal for 2023. I did not ever think the year would turn out this way.
The first protest, at Jantar Mantar
Sakshi:
Our first protest was three days. The government then formed a committee and said, 'Tell them all your problems, they will be solved'. But nothing happened there and [because of that] we had to protest again, for nearly 40 days.
We never thought we would have to sit for 40 days. We would have sat for longer, but as you would have seen, the police zabardasti [forcefully] detained us.
Vinesh:
The entire wrestling community [showed up], current and former wrestlers...we did not force anyone, we were only 10 wrestlers when we started. But when they saw that we were protesting against Brij Bhushan, they all came. This showed that they were all frustrated. Then, when they found out how deep this issue was, they all left.
It's not possible for all to fight the system and we understood that. But we started the protest, so where could we run? For 2-3 days we thought it would work out, but as the committee was formed and the government gave big assurances, but nothing happened, and people began to back out. They felt 'nothing will come of this, why should we spoil our lives'. They felt he [Brij Bhushan] would get us killed or end our careers.
Actually, we felt like we had made a big mistake at that point in time. We did not know that all this would happen, what would happen on the inside, just to hide the matter...we were initially happy that the committee was formed and that they would do the job and sort out the issue. But then....[wry laugh]
The three months before Jantar Mantar II
Vinesh:
We got some support and, based on the conversations we had, it felt like it would work out. We were relaxed by the fact that the whole country knew about it, and we felt like yes, now it'll happen. But 2-3 months later, we noticed the same pattern was repeating and that no one was bothered about it. That was very difficult for us to accept. There was no change even after we had said so much and that's when we realized how deep the issue was, aur kis gandagi mein hum fasein hain (and what dirt we've been trapped in). It was very hard for us to deal with, mentally and physically, and it took a toll on our families too. It was like this unknown deep place, like a bottomless pit. It's like when the roads are clogged during the monsoon, and you fall in a ditch because you cannot see it...we were not prepared for it.
We knew that he had power, but we did not know that he was SO powerful. We had never been into politics, nor did it matter to us.
We did not get into it for the politics, our point was we - Bajrang, Sakshi and I - have good medals, if we do not speak today then maybe no one might ever. What if no one comes to this level? Then no one will raise their voice. Our thought process was that if such successful wrestlers take a stand, then we cannot be ignored. We thought there was no way where our concerns would not be heard. We did not think our concerns would be neglected. We have given so much to wrestling and sports, we thought our concerns would get priority and not someone who has misused the system to get to the top.
After that first protest, the three of us sat down and cried many times thinking about how we had been played. We kept thinking about what we could do...they were trying to prove us as liars even after we spoke about so much. Sometimes we also thought about what the need for us was to become Bhagat Singh [Indian revolutionary]. But we were sure of one thing: we would not back down. We thought, could it get worse? At most, we will die and that's okay, we had come to unveil the truth and until we prove that...we won't accept that we are liars.
Second protest at Jantar Mantar (for 40 days)
Vinesh:
I don't know how we passed that time. From the morning to the night, we had no idea where our minds or bodies were or what was going on around us. We would eat once a day, drink chai, would eat if someone gave us something, people would keep coming to meet us. [All of it took a toll] emotionally, mentally, and physically. There were flies and mosquitoes swarming around, and we still slept. At night, we did not know where we slept. Sometimes in the mud and dirt, but we still slept. We used to think earlier that we can't live without A or B, we did all of that here. It was a very different experience of life.
Sakshi:
There were problems at the start because we have always been in training and in a good atmosphere. We would usually train and then rest. Our motto was to not step back, we just wanted justice at any cost and were willing to bear the struggle.
One day it rained so heavily that the wires we had put up for the fans and mics got short-circuited due to the water and there was electric current in the tent. There was a storm and heavy winds were blowing...we used to sleep beside the barricades, and those were knocked down by the winds. It was about to fall on Sangeeta and somehow Bajrang and Satyawart (Kadian, Sakshi's husband and also a wrestler) stopped it from falling. If we had woken up 2-3 minutes later, we would have been crushed under the barricade.
Vinesh:
There were many unknown people whom I had never met, or have met since, but they helped us all day and that made me realize that there are good people too. There were about 20-30 people who did not know us, we did not know them, and they have not contacted us since then, but they were there for us all day. They would feed us, clean the space, and handle it all and we had humanity around us.
Sakshi:
Day by day we became stronger. We got used to the weather, we lived through storms and rain. Whoever came to the protest spot, would contribute and we bought water and other essentials through that. However, the toilets there were in such a condition that we could not even enter them, but somehow, we adjusted and went on.
Whatever amount we slept, it was a peaceful sleep because we had struggled the whole day. We slept for a maximum of 4-5 hours, but it was a satisfying sleep because we knew we were there for a good cause.
It rained heavily one night and we had asked for foldable beds. But our request was refused. That made me feel really bad, what were we asking for? Should we sleep in the mud? Couldn't they help even this little bit? We were just asking for beds, not for something illegal.
Vinesh:
I had some plans to go abroad to train. I had to train physically but my mind was in no position to train. People would come to meet us till late at night, then we would be up by 6 am again and then we would meet people from 9 am. If we did not meet people then they would feel bad, and it was not like it would suffice if just Bajrang met them. They wanted to meet all of us, so all of us needed to be awake and there from the morning. It was difficult, but many people helped us and encouraged us. What we did could not have been done if it was just us 10 people. But the politics...we learnt how dirty politics and politicians are. We learnt about how much importance is given to religion and caste.
May 28: Wrestlers protest, are detained, protest ends
(Context: The Parliament building was being inaugurated that day, with Brij Bhushan, an MP of the ruling BJP, expected to be in attendance. The wrestlers had planned to protest near the Parliament complex)
Vinesh:
Our blood was boiling when we saw the pictures [of the Parliament inauguration]. But we never thought [the police] would treat us so badly. We were not even moving forward; we sat down near his [Brih Bhushan's] house and told the police that we would not go ahead. They had so much police force that we could not go even if we wanted to. But they had already planned to throw us out of there. They did such badtameezi (ill-mannered acts) that they tore our clothes. They knew we were wrestlers and attacked us in covert ways. They twisted our legs so that we would get injured. One officer twisted Sangeeta's knee and I had to intervene and say she needs to wrestle, stop doing that. They would scratch us with their nails in a manner that it wouldn't be seen. They pulled our hair in the guise of pulling us.
Sakshi:
That day I broke down because what were we doing? We were just raising our voices for justice. Why were they trying to dabaofy us [shut us up]? We were very emotionally and mentally troubled through that phase.
Carrying on the fight
Vinesh:
Different girls filed FIRs, showing the courage to stand up to him. They felt if their seniors could fight, why couldn't they? The others were all scared. Wrestling is not a rich people's sport; we are all mostly villagers. In our society, if a girl files an FIR because she has been harassed, she may not get married easily. People will call her "characterless." No family or athlete will want that to happen. No one has spoken about the extent of what he has done.
When we went to meet the committee members, we saw Brij Bhushan's men and they were revealing details about the complainants. Calls were made and some were convinced, in various ways, to take back their allegations. It's not like he is new to wrestling, he knows what is happening in every state and every akhada. He has his people everywhere. He will get all the details of any person, it's no big deal for him.
All the wrestlers left because they had no faith in the system, they felt nothing could be changed. We feel they did the right thing, who else is as crazy as us? We literally put our heads under a running train. We did it, but why should others?
How they feel now
Vinesh:
So much has happened, it's difficult [cries]. What I learnt this year is more than what I have learnt in my whole life. I saw how people behave, change, talk about you. No one will be there to back you. They will promise you, but when you look back no one will be there. Most of my friends have disappeared.
My love for wrestling has not reduced even a bit. I want to wrestle, but the purpose has changed now. Earlier it was to play for the country and win for the country. I used to get goosebumps when the national anthem was played. Now I personally don't feel anything [when the anthem is played].
The only thing I have told Bajrang and Sakshi is that I will still fight. I will look him [Brij Bhushan] in the eye and medal leke aungi main, tu dekh [bring back a medal and show it to him]. They both have Olympic medals, I don't. I have a reason to fight. If I train well, I can win a medal. No one can stop me.