New Delhi: The protesting wrestlers on Tuesday decided that the scheduled maha panchayat outside the new Parliament building on May 28 will be held under the leadership of women and youth, and any big decision on the future course of action will henceforth be taken by them.
On Tuesday, thousands of supporters of the wrestlers marched from Jantar Mantar to India Gate under extremely heavy security and raised slogans demanding the arrest of former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The protesting grapplers, including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat, have been demanding Brij Bhushan’s arrest alleging that he has sexually harassed several women wrestlers, including a minor.
The supporters braved the extreme heat and the late-evening dust storm as they marched towards India Gate peacefully in unprecedented numbers, which could have led to a stampede but fortunately, no untoward incident occurred.
Waving hundreds of tricolours, the supporters, who had arrived from bordering states, echoed the same sentiments as the aggrieved wrestlers and demanded the strictest of punishments for Brij Bhushan.
Vinesh, Bajrang and Sakshi, in order to ensure their voice reached the maximum number of supporters, climbed onto a police barricade at India Gate to address them even as hundreds of candles were lit up and supporters squatted at the venue holding placards and shouting slogans against Brij Bhushan.
