'Will return national awards': Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat writes an open letter to PM Modi

Several female wrestlers have accused Brij Bhushan, who is also a BJP MP, of sexual harassment with Malikkh, Punia, and Phogat leading the protests against him.

The wrestlers have returned their awards in a short span of six days after the landslide victory of a panel led by Sanjay Singh, a close associate of Brij Bhushan, in the elections for the Wrestling Federation of India on Thursday.

Sanjay Singh’s victory indicated a continuation of Brij Bhushan’s leadership in the organisation.

However, the sports ministry suspended the newly-elected body of the country’s top wrestling body on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Commonwealth and Asian Games medallist Vinesh Phogat wrote an emotional open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that she was returning the Arjuna and the Khel Ratna Awards, the highest sporting award in the country so that they did not become a burden in the path of living with dignity.

She asked if the women wrestlers were made only to grace government advertisements.

Phogat said that the wrestlers were praised when they won medals for the country but were labelled traitors when they demanded justice.

In the letter written in Hindi and quoted by NDTV, Phogat wrote, "Sakshee Malikkh 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, a daughter of your house and I am writing this letter to you to tell you about the condition I have been in for the past year.

"I remember the year 2016 when Sakshee Malikkh won a medal in the Olympics, your government named her the brand ambassador of "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao". When this was announced, all the women players of the country were happy and were sending congratulatory messages to each other. Today, ever since Sakshi had to leave wrestling, I am remembering that year again and again. Are we women players made only to appear in government advertisements," she asked.

She wrote that securing an Olympic medal is her cherished aspiration, which is currently diminishing, and emphasised that the reality of women wrestlers' lives is far from the glamorous portrayal seen in "fancy advertisements."

She also pointed out that post the wrestling body elections, Brij Bhushan had asserted his influence in WFI will continue.

Phogat urged the Prime Minister to take five minutes to hear the former WFI chief's remarks. She claimed that the "exploitative" Brij Bhushan openly confessed on television to making women wrestlers uncomfortable and using every opportunity to humiliate them.

"When we won medals for the country, the whole country considered us its pride. Now that we raised our voices for justice, we are being called traitors. Prime Minister, I want to ask you, are we traitors," she asked.

Phogat said she was overjoyed when she received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award. "But 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," she wrote.

She stated that the awards have no meaning in her life anymore. "Every woman wants to live life with respect. Thus, Prime Minister sir, I want to return my Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award to you so that these awards do not become a burden on us in the path of living with dignity," she wrote.