New WFI Body Suspended, but Sports Ministry Need to Maintain This Strong Stand

The Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) newly-elected body was suspended on Sunday by the Sports Ministry, citing the fact that the “newly elected body appears to be in complete control of former office-bearers.”

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) newly-elected body was suspended on Sunday by the Sports Ministry, citing the fact that the “newly elected body appears to be in complete control of former office-bearers.”

The ministry charged that the newly formed WFI committee, led by former chairman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s close aide Sanjay Singh, was behaving with “blatant disregard for the established legal and procedural norms.”

The panel, headed by Sanjay Singh and supported by BJP MP Brij Bhushan, took over the WFI last Thursday after its much-delayed elections were held under dubious circumstances.

Meanwhile, the sports ministry has also written a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to put together an ad-hoc committee to oversee the affairs of WFI. The Sports ministry stated in a letter that the temporary committee is capable of overseeing and managing all WFI operations, including athlete selection.

“Taking note of the compelling current situation arising out of the influence and control of the WFI’s former office-bearers, serious concerns have arisen about the governance and integrity of the WFI,” said the letter signed by Tarun Pareek, under-secretary in the government.

“This requires immediate and stringent corrective measures to uphold the principles of good governance in sports organisations, and thus, now it becomes incumbent on part of the IOA to make suitable arrangements for the interim for managing the affairs of WFI so that sportspersons of wrestling discipline do not suffer in any manner and the principle of good governance in the sports body do not get jeopardised,” he said in the letter addressed to IOA president PT Usha.

Back to Square One?

With this another round of suspension of an elected body (as per the laid-down rules), the ministry has failed to instil confidence in the protesting wrestlers.

Almost a year ago (last January), when wrestlers, led by Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, and Vinesh Phogat, sat on dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, they only left the protest site after being given an assurance by Sports minister Anurag Thakur that “a woman administrator would be elected to the top post”.

But that assurance fell flat on the face of the government, as Brij Bhushan’s men controlled almost all the state associations. As a result, his business partner and close associate, Sanjay Singh, got elected to the president’s post by a huge margin. He got 40 out of the total 47 votes. The only female candidate in the race for the top post, former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anita Sheoran, could only garner seven votes.

Her defeat was seen as a betrayal by the Sports minister to all the female wrestlers. Sakshi immediately announced her retirement in a hurriedly called press conference. Bajrang returned his Padam Shri award to the government a day later. Vinesh was sure that “it would be impossible for her to return to the wrestling arena given the presence of the same goons in WFI.”

The Sports Ministry was under tremendous pressure to resolve this crisis. And the Sanjay Singh-led newly-elected body gave them a reason to do so. The new body, without holding its formal meeting, announced on the same day, Dec. 21, that under-15 and under-20 national wrestling will take place in Nandini Nagar, Gonda (UP), before the end of this year.

It must be mentioned here that Gonda is Brij Bhushan’s constituency, and many women wrestlers in the past have complained of sexual harassment during the camps there.

It is alleged that Brij Bhushan harassed seven wrestlers sexually.

Sakshi had also expressed her concern over the venue, claiming that she has been receiving calls from junior women wrestlers who aren’t comfortable competing in the region (Gonda).

“Gonda is the area of Brij Bhushan. Imagine how the junior women wrestlers will go there to compete. Is there no place in this country to hold nationals anywhere other than Nandani Nagar? I don’t understand what to do,” Sakshi questioned the motive of WFI.

“This announcement is hasty, without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers who are to take part in the said nationals and without following the provisions of the WFI constitution. As per clause 3(e) of the preamble of the constitution of the WFI, the object of the WFI, among others, is to arrange the holding of senior, junior, and sub-junior national championships as per UWW rules at places selected by the Executive Committee." The Sports Ministry found reasons to suspend the WFI.

Fresh Elections?

Even as Brij Bhushan has announced his retirement from the affairs of wrestling soon after hearing the news of new WFI body, the fact remains that none other than his die-hard followers, directly controlled by him, are going to rule the affairs of wrestling in India.

“We got 40 votes out of 47. There are three other supporters of ours in the state federations who could not come to vote for their personal reasons,” was how Brij Bhushan described his dominance over WFI after Sanjay Singh was elected president.

The suspension by the Sports ministry means “nothing” for the WFI for the time being. “I have not seen the letter; let me first read the content, and then we (WFI) will reply to all the issues,” was how Sanjay replied to the government orders.

Sanjay is right because the elections were held under the supervision of a retired judge along with other members. Almost all the state wrestling federations are being controlled by Brij Bhushan aides. There is no way that “his chosen candidate” could be defeated even in future elections.

The government now has to find ways within the laid-down “Sports Code” to ensure that some “neutral and unbiased” officials are elected to the WFI posts. To do so, the only way to go forward is to “reserve one of the top posts for a female representative”..

Apart from the president, a senior vice-president, four vice-presidents, a secretary general, a treasurer, two joint secretaries, and five executive members were also elected on Thursday.

There were two government-backed candidates ---general secretary Prem Chand Lochab (Gujarat) and senior vice president Devender (Assam) --- also elected to the suspended body, but they were not sure whether “they would be allowed to take any decision or not by the dominant camp”.

“I sincerely doubt that the two would be able to influence any significant decisions. Their sole purpose in WFI would be to serve as props, demonstrating to the public that “some representation has been given to the protesting wrestlers,” was how a former senior official told this reporter after the results on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Brij Bhushan rushed to meet his party president, J.P. Nadda, after the WFI’s suspension. It is believed that his hasty decision to “distance himself from WFI” was the result of this meeting.

With the United World Wrestling (UWW), the international wrestling body, yet to lift the ban from the Indian body, a letter from the Sanjay Singh-led body was sent to the parent body on Friday. The letter has also stated that “WFI will host the Senior National Championships from January 28 in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar,” along with informing U-15 and U-20 nationals in Gonda.

Going by the insiders in Brij Bhushan’s camp, the Sanjay Singh-led WFI team is exploring a legal route to challenge the suspension by the Sports Ministry!