Farmers and Khaps Join Forces in Support of Wrestlers' Protest

The Kisan Sabha staged a hunger strike at the mini secretariat on Friday in support of the protesting wrestlers, calling for the arrest of WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the expulsion of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Before handing over a memorandum to the deputy commissioner for the President, it also demanded the suspension of police officers who misbehaved with women players at Jantar Mantar and burned effigies of Shah and Sharan Singh.

Shamsher Singh Nambardar, the district president of the Sabha, and veteran leader Surajbhan Daya led the protest. Along with them, a large number of farmers, labourers, athletes, retired employees, and members of other public organisations condemned the Delhi police's "misbehaviour" with women players who were in a drunken state." Nambardar said that if our daughters do not get justice, then this movement will take a more aggressive form and the government will be accountable for it.

Meanwhile, in Jind, farmers and Haryana khap panchayat leaders decided to hold a dharna close to a major road so that the villagers could easily join. On the Hisar-Chandigarh highway in Danoda village in Narwana town of the Jind district, farmers in the Bangar area announced the beginning of an indefinite dharna.

Also, Khap panchayat representatives and farmers held a meeting at Baddowal toll plaza and resolved to back the wrestlers by staging a sit-in protest at the village level. One of the protestors, Sunil Baddowal said that people from Haryana will continue to reach the national capital to boost the morale of the wrestlers and will also start a parallel dharna to counter any police action.

Similar protests were held by farmers and similar groups in Bhiwani, Kaithal, Rewari, Yamunanagar and Sonipat districts demanding strict action against the WFI chief.

Farmers, meanwhile, in the Bhiwani district claimed that it is like the battle of Mahabharat in which Draupadi was insulted publicly and now women wrestlers are being dishonoured openly. The BJP will face a shameful defeat just like Kauravas did in Mahabharata, he said.