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A day after Bajrang Punia announced that he would return his Padma Shri, the 2005 Summer Deaflympics gold medal winner Virender Singh Yadav said that he would also do the same. Yadav’s decision came after former WFI chief Bajrang Punia’s close aide won the election polls earlier this week. Virender Singh Yadav, commonly known as 'Goonga Pehalwan', received the prestigious honour Padma Shri Award back in 2021. Before that, he was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2015.
Yadav took to Twitter to announce his decision, saying, "I will also return the Padma Shri for my sister and the country's daughter, Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, I am proud of your daughter and my sister Sakshee Malikkh... But I would also request the top players of the country to also give their decision.” Yadav also tagged former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and athlete Neeraj Chopra.
Earlier on Friday, Bajrang Punia announced that he will return his award. After that, he kept his award on a footpath on Delhi's Kartavya Path on Friday evening, which was later picked up by the police. Punia told the police officers, "When the women wrestlers are not given due respect, I do not deserve this honour either. We were on the road for 40 days, but the promises made by the government have not been fulfilled. Our fight is not against the government but against an individual. I believe in the judiciary but, with what is happening, I can't keep faith in the system.”
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He had tweeted, “The government has given us a lot. I was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2019. I also received the Arjuna, Khel Ratna award. When I got these awards, I was on cloud nine. But today the sadness weighs more. And the reason is a woman wrestler left the sport because of her security.”
