A common ground has been found between the government and the protesting wrestlers after a six-hour-long meeting with the union minister of Sports, Anurag Thakur in Delhi on Wednesday. On Thakur’s insistence and assurance that the Delhi police will complete their investigation and file a chargesheet in the case by June 15, the wrestlers have decided to suspend their protest till then.
Another positive outcome of the meeting came to be a change of power in the Wrestling Federation of India. The WFI will have new leadership replacing Brij Bhushan Singh, the man against whom several charges of sexual harassment have been alleged. The government also assured the wrestlers that no one from Singh’s family will be given any leadership position in the WFI as presently there are several Singh’s family members holding key positions in the WFI.
The three wrestlers, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, leading the protest will also have a say in the election of the new leadership in WFI.
Thakur addressed the media after the meeting where he said, “The WFI elections should be conducted by June 30 and WFI’s Internal Complaints Committee be set up with a woman as head. After the elections, WFI should function as a good federation with good office-bearers. Players’ opinions should be taken in this regard,” he said.
