Congress Targets Centre Over Failure To Defend Vinesh Phogat

New Delhi, August 7: The Congress today blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the centre for failing to safeguard the interest of ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat alleging that “just because some people in power would have had problems with her winning a medal”.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here today, party general secretary and MP Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the entire country was seeking justice for Phogat, who had been thrown out of the Olympics under a deliberate conspiracy. “Phogat was sacrificed at the altar of sports politics”, he remarked.

The Congress general secretary tore into the failure of the Indian Olympic Association and the Wrestling Federation of India to come to the rescue of Phogat.

He said it was unprecedented in the history of Olympic games that an athlete had been disqualified for being overweight by just 100 grams.

He also quoted the Olympic rules, including Article 11, where a player is allowed one or two hours to adjust his/her weight in case it is slightly higher. He asked why was Phogat not given this time to reduce her extra weight.

He asked what was the huge entourage of officials, who outnumbered the players, doing in Paris and why they could not assist and guide Phogat.

Surjewala narrated the entire sequence of events and the related background as how people in power including the Prime Minister were reluctant to congratulate Phogat when she defeated a so-far-invincible wrestler to become first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the finals.

He observed that it was apparently because Phogat had led a struggle against sexual exploitation by the then Wrestling Federation of India and former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, that a conspiracy was hatched to deny her medal in the Olympics. He said, people in power in the country would have had a problem with her winning the medal.

The Congress leader raised certain technical questions substantiating his charges of conspiracy. He wondered how 100 grams of weight could not be managed, which could have been done very easily, even by a haircut.

Asserting and reiterating his charge, he pointed out, the silver medal could still have been saved, if the organisers and managers had made her opt out, citing illness or injury.

He pointed out, while there were consolatory tweets after Phogat was disqualified, nobody in the government had congratulated her when she had won the semifinal or pre-quarterfinal by defeating a wrestler who had never lost a bout in the last 82 games.

Surjewala said, the Congress party does not want consolation, but justice for Phogat, who was unduly and unjustifiably disqualified from the Olympic games under a conspiracy, thus denying her the opportunity to win a medal and create history.