Wrestler Bajrang Punia To Return Padma Shri Award In Protest Over WFI Chief Election (Image: X @BajrangPunia)
Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia said on Friday that he has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will be returning his Padma Shri award. This comes a day after wrestler Sakshi Malik hung her boots, protesting the election of Sanjay Singh as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief. Bajrang Punia is one of the leaders in the Indian wrestlers protest against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh accusing him of sexual harassment of women wrestlers.
Attaching the letter on his X handle, wrestler wrote: “I am returning my Padma Shri award to the Prime Minister. This is just my letter to say. This is my statement.”
मैं अपना पद्मश्री पुरस्कार प्रधानमंत्री जी को वापस लौटा रहा हूँ. कहने के लिए बस मेरा यह पत्र है. यही मेरी स्टेटमेंट है। 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/PYfA9KhUg9
— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) December 22, 2023
It was on Thursday, Brij Bhushan“s close associate Sanjay Singh won the WFI elections by receiving 40 votes wherein Anita Sheoran the protesting wrestlers’ preference for the post of WFI president could gather only 7 votes. Following Sanjay Singh”s victory, wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat attended a press meet and in an emotional speech Sakshi Malik said she is quitting the sport as protest. Placing her boots on the table, she said: “We fought, but if the new president is Brij Bhushan’s aide, his business partner, then I quit wrestling.”
The wrestlers including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, and Sakshi Malik began the protest on January 18 at Jantar Mantar. However, the protest had to end abruptly on May 28 when Delhi Police stepped in and forcefully removed them from the protest site. On June 25, announcing the end of their agitation, wrestlers said that they will fight in court.
Bajrang Punia, Indian freestyle wrestler, has won a Bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, his first Olympics. He is the only Indian wrestler to have bagged three medals at the World Wrestling Championship. Punia has also won medals in 2018 Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and 2018 and 2019 editions of the World Championship.
