
Wrestlers are seen during a candle light vigil near India Gate against Brij Bhushan Singh in New Delhi. File
| Photo Credit: Ss
Chhara village in Haryana’s Jhajjar, whose akhadas have gifted the Indian wrestling world with stars such as Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, 19-year-old Prachi Dalal, who was training to become a wrestler, began to realise that the transition from the sport to a government job was not going to be as smooth as it was in the past. Still she stuck to the grind for the past decade for the honour and pride that came with the sport. She, along with her sister Antara Dalal, 18, has been training since they were five.
Now, with their pride too hurt by the ‘ill-treatment’ of wrestlers, who were protesting against then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Singh accusing him of sexually assaulting athletes, the sisters are seething at the BJP-led Union government. “The image of Vinesh didi being dragged through the streets is still etched in my memory,” said Ms. Antara.
Mr. Prachi said the wrestling community will not forget anytime soon how the government treated the players who bring honour to the country.
While the wrestlers’ protest and their “ill-treatment by the BJP government” still haunts the wrestlers in Haryana villages, the community says there are other issues too that have been exacerbated by the BJP was elected to power in the State.
“Earlier during the Congress government, wrestlers would easily get government jobs. But, in the past decade, we are not getting any jobs. Worse, they have ended our dreams of finding a stable job by introducing contractual schemes like the Agniveer scheme,” said Manav Dalal, a 21-year-old wrestler from Jakhoda.
No job, paltry reward
In the State’s wrestling hotspots, there is a young and unemployed wrestler like Manav in every second house, said Virendra Arya, a wrestling coach.
“Wrestling is a demanding sport, and the training does not leave enough head space and energy in young trainees to pursue education with equal zeal. Now if the government fails to provide jobs to these players, then at the end of it all, they neither have a proper employable degree nor a job from the sport,” said Mr. Arya.
The sentiments remained the same in Sonipat’s Juan village. Coach Sanjeet Chikkara told The Hindu that many of his students who had joined the army as agniveers, who serve in the Defence forces for four years, left the job since it was not permanent. “On paper, they say that ₹30,000 will be paid but my students were getting hardly ₹20,000. And topping that was the contractual worker-like treatment of the aspirants,” said Mr. Chikkara.
23-year-old Vikas, who has been training in an akhada in Rohtak, said that the present government does not know how to treat players in a dignified manner. “During the Congress government we would get cash prizes worth ₹3 lakh, now, despite the rise in the cost of living and of pursuing the sport, the maximum cash prizes are around one lakh,” says the resident of Sishai.
While Manav Dalal complained about the fall in the cash prize amount impacting their ability to pursue the expensive sport, Ajay Chikkara, father of a 15-year-old wrestler in Juan, Sonipat, claimed that even the meagre cash prizes awarded did not reach the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
“A couple of years back my daughter was given a cash prize by the former WFI chairman Brij Bhushan. However despite photographs of it coming in newspaper and a big cheque handed over by him, the prize never reached our account,” said Mr. Chikkara.
For the 40-year-old man, training a teenage daughter and son as wrestlers has become difficult which he blames entirely the BJP government for. “By neither supporting players financially nor meeting the demands of a minimum support price for our crops, the party has ensured that we become incapable of supporting the dreams of our children. Hence, (this time) our support will be for the party that understands the needs of the players,” he said.
Published – September 15, 2024 08:12 pm IST