This is no longer about who is right or who is wrong. There is no debate that the wrestlers’ protest is no longer just a sports movement. Politics has taken over, and it is now far more complex than when it started. But in all this, one thing is for certain. India is losing out every second in this whole affair.
You don’t want to see visuals of women being pulled and dragged by law-enforcement officers, or forcibly pinned to the ground. We remember what happened with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. India is the world’s largest democracy, and we take a lot of pride in being a free country where democratic protest is allowed. To see men and women being violated on the streets is disturbing. And when they are Olympic champions who have brought laurels to the country in the past, it is even more so. Why can’t we be civil? Where is the sensitivity? Why can’t there be more empathy in dealing with this issue?
There are arguments on both sides. And it has now become a government-versus-opposition stand-off as well. That’s where it has gone haywire. In all this, we aren’t concerned about the rights and wrongs because an investigation is on and the law has to take its course. What has been compromised is our civility and dignity.
BREAKING 🚨
Ruckus at Jantar Mantar! Barricades can’t stop wrestlers from going to the Parliament!!
Where is this headed?
Scenes from the spot! 👇@ThumsUpOfficial @BajrangPunia @SakshiMalik #WrestlersProtest #WrestlerProtest #BrijBhushanSharanSingh pic.twitter.com/IQXotmO9te
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) May 28, 2023
As an Indian citizen, you don’t want pictures of Olympic medallists being pinned to the road beamed across the world. It will define us as a nation. There has to be a better way to deal with this. As an emerging superpower, it is a must that we do so. The world follows our example often, with the way we vaccinated a billion people a case study for so many others.
The way the police have handled the whole matter has not resonated well. The social-media reaction to the pictures is proof. The more this drags on, the more political it will become. Frankly, we need an immediate resolution. An end. Something somewhere has to give. And violence cannot be that solution. It never has been.
It is a test for us to end this in a manner that will not shame us further in the eyes of the world. On a day we are celebrating the opening of a new parliament building, we don’t need these pictures. As a country, we can surely do better than we have on this issue. Or so we hope.