Wrestlers Vs Brij Bhushan

As protesting wrestlers hope for justice to prevail, there is anger among various sections of society about why a protest of this nature should drag for so long

- Swati Shikha and Shreya Basak

THE date was May 28. In Mokhra village in Rohtak district of Haryana, village residents, khap leaders and farmers had gathered in an ancient kothi. As they watched the visuals of their "daughters" being dragged and stomped upon by Delhi Police in the national capital on a loop on their mobile phones, they seethed with anger. Words like "dictatorship", "tanashahi" (Fascism), "nindaniya" (condemnable) and "atyachar" (atrocity) reverberated the walls of the kothi.

A few kilometres from where their daughters-protesting wrestlers who are demanding the arrest of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh -were roughed up, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament. The protesting wrestlers had planned a march from Jantar Mantar to the new Parliament. On the way, they were stopped.

The police dragged a struggling Sangeeta Phogat and shoved her into the police van. She was later detained, along with Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and other protesters.

A few days later, the incident is still a talking point in Mokhra village. A few men are gathered at the Bali Pehalwan Darwaza-a prominent landmark-and are puffing hookah while discussing the May 28 incident. They feel if justice is not served soon, the wrestlers' protest might grow bigger with women and men, youth and old coming on the streets.