‘Hurts to see such cruelty’: Rahul Gandhi on Vinesh returning awards

A day after multiple World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat left her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award on the Kartavya Path, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the PM is the guardian of the nation and it hurts to see “such cruelty” on his part.

Phogat left the two awards lying in the middle of Kartavya Path after the Delhi Police stopped her from reaching the prime minister’s office on Saturday (December 31).

Phogat, along with Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, had protested against the election of Sanjay Singh, a close aide of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who the three well-known grapplers had accused of sexual harassment.

Rahul’s post

Sharing a video of Phogat at Kartavya Path, Gandhi wrote in an X post on Sunday, “For every daughter of the country, self-respect comes first. Any other medal or honour comes after that. Has the price of ‘political benefits’ received from a ‘proclaimed Bahubali’ exceeded the tears of these brave daughters? The Prime Minister is the guardian of the nation, it hurts to see such cruelty on his part,” the former Congress chief wrote in Hindi.

Last Tuesday, Phogat had decided to return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award to the government, saying such honours have become meaningless at a time when wrestlers are struggling to get justice.

Phogat had announced her decision in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Row over Singh’s appointment

On Saturday, she attempted to reach the prime minister’s office to return her awards, but the police prevented her from reaching the PMO. As a mark of protest, she left the awards at the Kartavya Path and they were later picked up by the Delhi Police.

Sakshi Malik also announced her retirement from wrestling soon after Sanjay Singh’s appointment as WFI chief.

However, the sports ministry later suspended the newly-elected panel for not following the provisions of its own constitution while taking decisions and asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to constitute an ad-hoc panel to manage the affairs of the sports body.

Acting on the sports ministry directive, the IOA on Wednesday constituted a three-member ad-hoc committee to run the day-to-day affairs of the WFI.

(With agency inputs)