Tribune News Service
Vinayak Padmadeo
New Delhi, January 31
After sitting over the protesting wrestlers’ demands for over a week, the Sports Ministry has finally relented and added Babita Phogat to the Oversight Committee appointed to look after the functioning of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
Former Olympian Babita will be the sixth member of the committee, which was named on January 23 by the Sports Ministry to investigate allegations of sexual harassment made against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by several women wrestlers, and to also manage the day-to-day affairs of the federation.
India’s top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, had criticised the Sports Ministry for not consulting them before the appointment of the five-member Oversight Committee. The Ministry had strongly rebutted the criticism, saying that three of the names in the committee were suggested by the wrestlers themselves.
Boxing legend MC Mary Kom was named the chair of the committee, which also included Yogeshwar Dutt, Trupti Murgunde, Radhica Sreeman and Cdr (Retd) Rajesh Rajagopalan.
There was speculation last week that the wrestlers, who have made serious allegations against Singh, wrestling coaches and office staff, may restart their dharna after their demands — including the disbanding of WFI — were summarily dismissed and Singh remained in office.
Babita’s inclusion in the committee is likely to soothe nerves among the wrestling community. As reported by this newspaper, the wrestlers had been talking about resuming their protest as none of their primary demands was met.
When the Oversight Committee was named, the inclusion of London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt had caused worry in the wrestling community as they had targeted Dutt, a BJP leader, for siding with WFI.
They wanted Babita, also a BJP leader, and Greco-Roman coach Kuldeep Singh to be named in the committee. Incidentally, Babita had tried to form a parallel wrestling federation in Haryana before the 2022 National Games in Gujarat. She and some others, with the support of then Haryana Sports Minister Sandeep Singh, had formed an association and attempted to send their team to the National Games. Their request was shot down by the National Games Organising Committee and the team sent by the WFI-affiliated Haryana state unit was entered in the competition in Gujarat.
Date with IOA
Meanwhile, the Indian Olympic Association-appointed probe committee — which is, incidentally, also headed by Mary Kom — has invited the wrestlers for a hearing on February 11. After initially suggesting that they had faith in IOA in their fight against WFI, the wrestlers had ignored the seven-member committee that met last week. This probe committee’s members are IOA treasurer Sahdev Yadav, Kalyan Chaubey, Yogeshwar Dutt, Dola Banerjee, Alaknanda Ashok and two lawyer-members, apart from Mary Kom.
“Yes, we have asked the wrestlers to appear before us again. I think a letter has been sent to them, so let’s see whether they meet us,” said a source in the probe committee.
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