Bajrang Punia opens up days after wrestlers’ meeting with Amit Shah

Wrestler Bajrang Punia, who is among the wrestlers protesting against Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, has said the grapplers have no ‘setting’ with Union home minister Amit Shah and the protests will continue.

Punia told NDTV he and the fellow wrestlers were told by the government not to reveal to anyone about their meeting with Shah, but they themselves leaked it to the media.

Punia said the home minister told the wrestlers that the investigation was underway. The grappler reiterated that the protest has not died down and will continue.

On Saturday, the protesting wrestlers had met the home minister days after threatening to immerse their medals into Ganga in Haridwar. The meeting had lasted till midnight as the grapplers pressed for the arrest of Brij Bhushan Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party MP.

During the interview to NDTV, Punia said that the athletes are not satisfied with the response of the government, which is not agreeing to their demands. He asked Shah why Singh was not arrested and was shielded and asserted that the wrestlers will not back down on assurances of action.

According to Punia, the home minister assured them that they (government) were discussing it and will definitely take action. Punia recalled how the wrestlers had gone back in January on government’s assurances and ‘were declared liars’.

When asked about the speculations about the fate of the protests after the wrestlers including him rejoined their Railways jobs, Punia said they took a leave from their jobs and reported back for one day to sign in after being evicted from Jantar Mantar protest site. He even said that the wrestlers are ready to quit their government jobs if it turns out to be an obstacle in the agitation.