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India's top wrestlers, who were been detained by Delhi Police and removed from their Jantar Mantar protest site, said that they have plans to throw their medals into the river Ganges while also sitting on a hunger strike 'till death' at the India Gate. The same was revealed by 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik in a statement on her Twitter handle.
Sakshi revealed that the protesting wrestlers will travel to Haridwar on Tuesday to immerse the medals in the holy river at 6 pm.
"These medals are our life and soul. We are going to immerse them in the Ganges because she is Maa Ganga. After that, there is no point of living, so we will sit on a hunger strike until death at India Gate," she said in the statement written in Hindi.
The same statement was also shared by her compatriot Vinesh Phogat. Tuesday is Ganga Dussera in Haridwar and possibly a day when a lot of people will be there to offer prayers.
"We have won these medals with the same purity as the holy Ganga. These medals are holy for the entire country and there can't be a better place to keep them than in the holy Ganga rather than it acting as a mask for the unholy system which is siding with the wrongdoer. India Gate is the place of those martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the country. We are not as holy as them but our emotions while playing at the international level are similar to those soldiers," Sakshi said.
Sakshi added that the system kept trying to scare the victims and stop the protest instead of catching the harasser. She also wants President Draupadi Murmu and PM Narendra Modi to address the issue.
"We don't want these medals now because by making us wear them this shiny system is using it as a mask for its publicity while exploiting us. If we speak against this exploitation it prepares to send us to jail."
This comes after the wrestlers were forcefully detained by the Delhi Police, the videos of which have since gone viral. The protestors, including Olympic medal winners Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, along with other international grapplers like Vinesh Phogat and Sangeeta Phogat, were going to organise a women's Mahapanchayat. But the police intervened, detaining them and taking them to different locations.
The agitating wrestlers, including likes of Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia, Sakshi and Asian Games gold winner Vinesh have been demanding the arrest of outgoing WFI President Brij Bhushan Singh who they have accused of sexually harassing several women grapplers.
The wrestlers had said that the use of force by police will not deter them from going ahead with their peaceful march and the Mahapanchayat.
"They have been detained for violating law and order. We will take legal action after an inquiry in due course of time," said Dependra Pathak, Special CP, Law and Order after the visuals of the police treatment went viral.
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