From Jantar Mantar to Paris, Vinesh Phogat is an Icon On and Off the Mat

Yeh Jo India Hai Na, here, it must never be forgotten that it was at New Delhi that Vinesh Phogat fought and won her most important match. She may have missed an Olympic gold medal in Paris at the 2024 Olympics, but for all of us Indians, Vinesh won her most precious medal back at home, at Jantar Mantar, in 2023.

A short patch of road and pavement at Jantar Mantar, a designated ‘protest site’ in Central Delhi, became Vinesh’s home, her ‘akhada’, her training centre, for much of 2023, as this was where she was forced to spend months in protest against her own wrestling federation chief, Brij Bhushan Singh, who has been accused of sexually assaulting her fellow female wrestlers.

It was at Jantar Mantar that Vinesh, along with other medal-winning wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, and several lesser-known wrestlers, issued appeal after appeal to the Modi government to act, but got no support. Instead, she was dragged on the roads like a criminal by the Delhi Police when her voice got too powerful to handle.

And of course, for months together, she was also vilified on government-aligned news channels and abused on social media.

And so, Yeh Jo India Hai Na, here, even as we cheer Vinesh Phogat for becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for an Olympic final, we surely also owe her an apology. Equally surely, it is a time to introspect about how we let her and her fellow wrestlers down so badly.

PT Usha is a massive sporting icon in her own right, who saw heartbreak herself in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when she came fourth in the 400m hurdles event. The current Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief is also a BJP Rajya Sabha MP and is today standing by Vinesh, posing in pictures by her hospital bed in Paris.

But let’s remember that PT Usha did let Vinesh down in 2023, when she criticised the wrestlers’ protests, saying they were ‘bad for India’s image’. So much for being the first woman to head the IOA.

Even the equally iconic Mary Kom stayed silent when the government refused to make public her Oversight Committee report that examined the allegations against Brij Bhushan Singh. She may well have been leaned upon by those in power to say nothing, but surely Vinesh and the other protesting wrestlers were right in expecting her to speak up.

Let’s also remember that even after a Delhi court said that there was “enough evidence” to charge Brij Bhushan Singh, after which two FIRs were filed against him, the Modi sarkar still bowed to his political clout. In 2023 itself, Brij Bhushan’s proxy was cynically allowed to fight and win a sham Wrestling Federation election, after which, the year after, the BJP went a step further when they gave a Lok Sabha ticket to Brij Bhushan Singh’s son.

For the same government to now celebrate Vinesh’s achievement is a sad irony, hypocrisy even, because they were not there for her when she really needed them. When she should have been training hard for the 2024 Olympics, she was stuck at Jantar Mantar, reminding her own government about its responsibilities.

Maybe it was this trial by fire that gave Vinesh the hunger, maybe the rage even, to take down the Japanese world number one in her category, and follow it up with two more big wins to earn that never-before spot in the final. She just had to show all those who tried to pull her down, that she was a true champion.

Vinesh’s freak disqualification by just 100 grams has stolen from her a truly well-deserved and well-earned Olympic medal. But it has also spared several BJP ‘netas’ from the embarrassment of taking part in the photo-ops that would have followed had she actually won a medal. Imagine felicitating the same wrestler who, a year ago, was being described by them as an ‘anti-national’, a 'deshdrohi', and an opposition party stooge.

In fact, within minutes of her disqualification, the die-hard troll army had already labelled her a cheat and claimed that ‘bad karma’ had caught up with her. But happily, there was a far larger number of people rooting for Vinesh, telling her that for all of us Indians, she would always be a wrestling great.

In fact, Yeh Jo India Hai Na, it will always remember Vinesh not just as a champion wrestler, but also as a champion against gender violence, against the grip that our ‘netas’ have over our sports federations, which are truly harming sports in India.

We will always remember the ‘dheet’, the stubborn Vinesh Phogat, who fought the good fight, not just in Paris, but also at Jantar Mantar! She may have said ‘Alvida Kushti’, but we all know that a champion like her never retires.