Wrestlers’ Protest: Tikait Intervenes, Medal Immersion Deferred, Mahapanchayat on Thursday

New Delhi: Following intervention by BKU leader Naresh Tikait, agitating wrestlers deferred their plan to immerse their medals in the Ganga. Tikait said a ‘mahapanchayat’ will be held in Muzaffarnagar’s Soram village on Thursday to discuss the ongoing protest by wrestlers against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Tikait, said the issue will be discussed in detail in the ‘mahapanchayat’.

On Tuesday, some of India’s top wrestlers accompanied amidst a large crowd of supporters gathered on the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar, threatening to immerse their World and Olympic medals in the holy rive. But they deferred their plan when Tikait and other farmer leaders sought five days to address their grievances.

Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Asian Games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat went to Har ki Pauri on Tuesday to protest the inaction against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief.

Tikait said several representatives of different khaps and their heads hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi will be participating in the mahapanchayat to decide the next course of action in the wrestlers’ protest.

On May 28, Delhi Police had detained the wrestlers when they marched towards the new Parliament building and filed FIRs against them for violation of law and order.