New Delhi: Olympic bronze medallist wrestler and Congress leader Bajrang Punia on Saturday slammed former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh after the former BJP MP said that Vinesh Phogat “deserved to be disqualified” from Paris Olympics.
Day after both Punia and Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress, Singh told ANI,”Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?… You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same.”
Speaking to India Today, Punia hit out at Singh, saying that the remarks “exposes the mentality” of Singh towards the country.
“ It was not Vinesh’s medal. It was 140 crore Indians’ medal. And he is gloating at her loss,” the working chairman of All India Kisan Congress said.
“Those who celebrated Vinesh’s disqualification, are they deshbhakts? We are fighting for the country since childhood, and they dare to teach us patriotism. They are molesting girls,” Punia told India Today.
Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, among the faces of last year’s protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faces sexual harassment charges, joined the Congress on Friday.
