Picture Credit: X
Indian wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia are likely to contest Haryana Assembly elections. On Wednesday, September 4, the star grapplers met former Congress President Rahul Gandhi. As per media reports, Vinesh Phogat will contest elections from Julana seat while Punia will contest elections from the Badli seat on Congress’ tickets. Several reports claim that the names will be cleared by the Congress Central Election Committee on Wednesday or Thursday.
The development came shortly after the wrestlers met former Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. The opposition party shared a picture of Gandhi with Phogat and Bajrang Punia on their official X handle. In addition, reports by ANI suggested that they later met Congress General Secretary Org KC Venugopal, in Delhi. Notably, Bajrang Punia and Phogat were part of the protests against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was also the Chief of the Wrestling Federation of India in 2023.
Vinesh Phogat’s journey from protests to Olympics and then politics
Phogat, a multiple Commonwealth Games gold medalist, along with fellow wrestlers including Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and others protested against WFI Chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in New Delhi 2023. The four-time world champion endured several hardships including career-threatening injury following the 2016 edition of the Olympics. After the protests and other controversies, Phogat regained her fitness and competed across multiple categories and finally earned her Paris Olympics 2024 quota in the 50kg category.
In Paris, Phogat made history by becoming the first female wrestler to reach the finals and guarantee India at least a silver medal. However, in an unfortunate turn of events, Phogat was found to be 100 grams over the weight limit on the day of her final event and was disqualified from the bout.
Soon after returning to India empty-handed, Phogat was seen visiting a farmers protest site on the Haryana-Delhi border and described herself as “your daughter”.
