By Boria Majumdar
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections are finally over and there is a new elected president at the helm of the sport. After 12 months of protest and turmoil, the sport was expected to come back to normal. But is the election really the end of the story? Is normalcy restored? Can it ever be?
Sakshi Malik, Olympic medallist and one of India’s most decorated wrestlers, has decided to quit the sport in protest. Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat are equally disappointed. Their major grievance – how could someone who is a close aide of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh be elected president of the WFI? More so after Anurag Thakur, the Sports Minister, had promised them that no one associated with Brij Bhushan would be allowed to contest.
Let’s go deeper and try and understand what they are saying. Can any court of law or any government stop someone from contesting an election? Is it not the fundamental right of that person to contest? How can someone be disqualified because he or she is someone’s aide or business associate? If the Government did so and the person moved court, would the government’s stand be upheld by the law?
Also, can the wrestlers demand a woman president at the helm of the WFI? Why and how? On what basis can a man be disqualified from contesting? Just because there are charges of sexual harassment against a former president, can you say that we want a woman to lead Indian wrestling? Are you then not stereotyping every man as a potential sexual harasser?
Rationally speaking, the protesters’ arguments don’t really hold up. Sakshi, Vinesh and Bajrang can’t demand that someone of their choice be made president. That would be unlawful.
Breaking & Exclusive 🚨
Sakshi Malik opens up on the elections, her decision to quit and what next for the wrestlers.
A RevSportz exclusive.@SakshiMalik @BoriaMajumdar #wrestling #BrijBhushanSingh pic.twitter.com/4jLDuoPMvr
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) December 21, 2023
Am I then trying to say that all that happened was fair? That they have no reason to feel disappointed, and that Sakshi had no reason to quit the sport?
No, I am remotely not suggesting that. The fact is that Brij Bhushan was stopped by the government from contesting the election. There had to be some reason for doing so. And when the same person comes out and brazenly tells the media that his side won, it doesn’t really send the right signals. When he has been stopped, can he then win by proxy? Should such a thing be allowed?
Had he maintained stoic silence instead of coming out and celebrating, there would have been no problem. The brazenness is the problem. The vulgar show of power is the issue. Knowing full well that the government did not want him to contest the election, he still came out wearing 20 garlands and said it is a victory for his faction. That’s where the protesting wrestlers are bound to get sympathy. This brazen defiance of the government’s wishes is the problem. Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts far more.
India has won only a handful of Olympic medals since independence. And Sakshi happens to be one of the very few who did so. To see her break down and cry in disappointment at a public press conference just didn’t seem right for the sport. And that’s where the issue could be better handled. Despite the election and the apparent return to normalcy, the matter is not resolved. Indian sport, more than anything or anyone else, is the big loser. To see Sakshi quit the sport that once got her on the Olympic podium, and allowed the tricolour to go up, is not the end result we were waiting for. So while knowing that what they are saying is not legally tenable, it has to be said that the issue deserved a better outcome and perhaps more sensitive handling.
Politics is also about optics. For Sanjay Singh to go to Brij Bhushan’s house soon after the election results were announced was as bad an image as one could hope to see. It was arrogance and not humility that was on show, and that’s where the elections doesn’t seem right. Elected representatives need to be humble and not arrogant, modest and not big-headed. So while Sakshi and Bajrang aren’t right, Brij Bhushan is far from vindicated either. Sadly for Indian wrestling, there is no perfect ending. Imperfect is the new perfect for wrestling, and the sport is poorer for it.
Also Read: Sakshi Malik Threatens to Quit Wrestling After Brij Bhushan’s ‘Right Hand’ is Elected WFI President