New Delhi: After Union sports minister Anurag Thakur tweeted late on Tuesday night that the government is “willing to have a discussion” with protesting wrestlers, Olympics bronze medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, along with Satyawart Kadiyan, visited Thakur’s residence today.The meeting went on for over six hours and by evening, Thakur told reporters that he has “assured” wrestlers that the investigation against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh will be completed by June 15, and chargesheets will be submitted.“The election of WFI will be done by 30th June,” Thakur said.While wrestlers have agreed to suspend protests till June 15, Punia told reporters that if no action is taken by June 15, they will resume protests.The wrestlers put forth five demands to Thakur. According to NDTV, these include free and fair elections to the WFI and the appointment of a woman chief. Singh, the accused in serious allegations of sexual harassment, or his family members, could not be part of the WFI, the wrestlers told Thakur.According to NDTV, Union home minister Amit Shah, whom the wrestlers met last week, has also invited the wrestlers for a second round of talks.Medal-winning wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia have been protesting against BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who they have accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers. One of the complaints against Singh was a minor. On Tuesday, some reports say the minor has “withdrawn” her complaint. However, the POCSO FIR against Singh – as well as another FIR based on complaints by six adult women wrestlers – are still in place.Between April 23 and May 28, the wrestlers were on a sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar, where they received widespread support from various groups including farmers’ unions. On May 28 – the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inaugurating the new parliament building, with Singh in attendance – the Delhi Police detained the protesting wrestlers, dismantled their protest sits and filed FIRs against them. The police has since refused them permission to return to Jantar Mantar or protest at India Gate.Earlier, the wrestlers had accused Thakur of engaging in a “hush job” on Singh’s behalf. “When we met the sports minister, the women wrestlers shared individual incidents related to sexual harassment. The girls were crying before him, but no action was taken. The sports minister tried to hush up the matter yet again by forming a committee. We have tried to raise this issue at every level but the matter was always suppressed,” Vinesh Phogat had said.Over the last few days, there have been attempts by a section of the media to argue that since the wrestlers are no longer on dharna and have gone back to their railways jobs, and also met Shah, the protest is largely over. However, the protesting wrestlers have vehemently denied this. “The protest hasn’t stopped at all, it is very much ongoing. We’re planning our next steps,” Bajrang Punia told NDTV in an interview. “A section of the media is spreading the fake news that we have taken back our protest, that there are differences amongst us [the protesting wrestlers]… I want to tell those news channels that if you’re unwilling to cover our protest, at don’t portray it in a negative light. Even those who watch these channels will have sisters and daughters at home. To respect them, they should also recognise that here too, daughters and sisters are fighting for justice.”Also read: India’s Female Wrestlers and the Body Politic of Resistance“We are employees of the railways,” he continued. “When our protest site [at Jantar Mantar] was broken up [by the police] on May 28, we went in to sign one day, because we had taken holiday, and then we came back. How does that mean we have taken back our protest?”Punia said they had not faced any threats of losing their jobs if they did not return to work from the Railways. Only because their initially declared leave days had ended, they went back to sign in once, he said. If they did face any such pressure, he said, they would leave the jobs – because theirs is a fight for respect and justice.No agreement was reached in the meeting with Shah, Punia said. “We were told by the government officers not to say anything about this meeting anywhere. But at the same time, details of the meeting are being released [by the government]. So now I can say that we met the home minister and asked why he [Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh] has not been arrested yet. We asked why he is being protect. The home minister assured us that there will be action. And of course we have to have discussions. But that does not mean our protest will continue. As I have said, we will soon make a plan and tell everyone about it,” Punia told NDTV.“But we have received assurances before, in January, and we gave up our protest then. But then nothing happened, and so now we will not stop protesting until we see more than just assurances,” he added.This article, first published at 8.55 am, was republished with updates, once at 2.05 pm and then at 6.35 pm.
