“He wrestled and worked out with me…” Rahul Gandhi meets Bajrang Punia and wrestlers amidst WFI row

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited Virender Arya Akhara in Punjab's Jhajjar district, early on Wednesday morning and met with wrestlers including Bajrang Punia. This comes days after Olympic medalist Bajrang Punia returned in Padma Shri to show solidarity with wrestler Sakshi Malik who had announced her retirement in protest against the Government & Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). Olympic medalist Sakshi Malik had announced her retirement after Sanjay Singh, a close of aide of former WFI president and BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, was elected as the president of the board.

"Rahul Gandhi came to see our wrestling routine. He worked out with us. He also did wrestling. He came to see the day-to-day activities of a wrestler”, said Bajrang Punia after Rahul Gandhi left. He, however, didn’t confirm if there was any discussion over the current row. The sports ministry had suspended the WFI after WFI's new president Sanjay Singh announced the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals by the end of this year, calling it a violation of the procedure.

Pictures and videos of Rahul Gandhi visiting the akhara went viral on social media. Gandhi could be seen interacting with the wrestlers. Previously congress leader Priyanka Gandhi had met with Sakshi Malik after she announced her retirement. Several female wrestlers including Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat have been protesting for over a year against Brijbhushan accusing the former president of sexual harassment. Wrestlers were thus irked with Sanjay Singh’s election as the president claiming he is a close associate of Brijbhushan. Brijbhushan has distanced himself from the controversy, claiming he has retired from WFI and that Sanjay Singh isn’t his any relative.


In protest, Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling, Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri and Vinesh Phogat announced she would return her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award.​