By joining the sit-in protest of top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists, at Jantar Mantar in Delhi Tuesday, senior Congress leader and ex-Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has aimed to strike a chord with the people of the state’s rural belts, which are known to be India’s sports nursery for producing athletes who have been consistently winning most of the medals bagged by the country at major international sporting events. The protesting wrestlers – including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who hail from Haryana – have been demanding action against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom they have accused of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation. Amid the snowballing row, Hooda chose to join the wrestlers’ sit-in barely one day after they sought support from political parties, farmer bodies, women organisations and khaps for their cause. This was in a departure from their previous protest at Jantar Mantar on the same issue in January this year, when they had urged parties not to give a political colour to their demand for action against Brij Bhushan. Terming the allegations of sexual harassment against the WFI chief “serious” in nature, the Supreme Court Tuesday issued a notice to Delhi Police on a petition filed by seven wrestlers seeking registration of an FIR against him. The wrestlers moved the apex court, saying no action has yet been initiated over the seven complaints against the WFI chief they filed at the Connaught Place Police Station last Friday. Addressing the protesting wrestlers Tuesday, Hooda, who is also the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Haryana Assembly, said: “These sportspersons are not from a particular state but from across the country. They have brought laurels to the country from all over the world, they have brought glory to the Tricolour. It is painful that they are forced to sit here. It’s our duty to ensure justice to them.” Hooda also said, “The players who should have been performing on the sports field, have to sit on the streets and stage a protest. The allegations levelled by the sportspersons against the officials of the wrestling federation are very serious. The allegations should be investigated promptly and impartially.” In the course of his stint as the CM during 2005-14, Hooda was known to have taken various measures to promote Haryana as a sports hub and encourage athletes. He had appointed several prominent sportspersons such as boxer Vijender Singh and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt as deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) besides offering big cash prizes to the medallists from major sporting events. The Congress government had then also appointed several of them as inspectors and sub-inspectors in the state police. Even the current BJP-JJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar has been appointing accomplished sportspersons to various government posts but police jobs remain in demand in the state. Most of the Haryana sportspersons have a rural background. The supporters of Hooda say “he knows the pulse of the rural people and knows that like faujis (serving soldiers and ex-servicemen), sportspersons too enjoy great respect among villagers”. They also say Hooda has chosen to express his solidarity with the protesting wrestlers to reach out to the larger sporting community in the state, which is due for the Assembly polls next year. They claim that he had set up an infrastructure which attracted a large number of youths to come to the playgrounds and develop and hone their talents. Hooda’s close aides claim that the wrestlers’ ongoing agitation may “dent” the BJP’s support among the large sporting constituency in not only Haryana but even in some neighbouring states like Punjab and Rajasthan. Hooda has now already started promising a variety of sops for the sportspersons. Two weeks ago, he attended an event in boxer Saweety Boora's village in Hisar district, organised to felicitate her for winning a gold medal at the recent Women’s World Boxing Championships held in New Delhi. He pledged there that she will be appointed as the DSP when the Congress returns to power in the state. He told the gathering: “Under the 'Padak Lao, Pad Pao (Win medals, get jobs)' policy (of the previous Hooda-led Congress regime), the government honoured more than 750 sportspersons by giving them direct appointments to government posts. Under the sports policy, players were given appointments to senior posts like DSP. Along with this, a three per cent quota was given to sportspersons in group-C and group-D jobs so that youths participating in sports do not feel insecure about their future and livelihood.” He also alleged that “the BJP-JJP government took away from the players their right to get appointed to the DSP post.” On his part, CM and senior BJP leader Khattar has made a pitch for the “Padak Lao, Padak Badhao (Win medals, increase medals)” policy under which efforts will be made with the help of the medal-winning players to produce more players like them. He said this would be possible when sport is taken up as a career. In August 2022, while addressing a function held in honour of the medal winners of the Commonwealth Games, Khattar had said: “Out of 215 players participating in this year's Commonwealth Games, 42 are from Haryana. Players from Haryana have won 20 medals out of the country's 61. Of these, 17 medals were won in the individual events and 3 medals were won in the team events. Our daughters are performing best in sports.” The CM had honoured the players there by giving them significant cash prizes – the Commonwealth Games gold medallist was given a cash prize of Rs 1.50 crore each, silver medallist Rs 75 lakh and bronze medalist Rs 50 lakh. Khattar had then also said: “The state government has formulated Haryana Outstanding Sportspersons Rules, 2018 to ensure employment for the players. For them, 550 new posts have been created in the sports department. Apart from this, 156 players have been given government jobs. Provision for reservation has been made for sportspersons in direct recruitment of posts from class I to class IV.”
