In stark contrast to the bravery and selflessness of Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia was the relative silence of the biggest names in India’s sporting universe. Only a handful came out in support of the wrestlers: Neeraj Chopra, Abhinav Bindra, Kapil Dev, Nikhat Zareen, Sania Mirza, Harbhajan Singh, and Rani Rampal. The rest – and they include the greatest Indian sportsmen and women – chose silence.
Vinesh tells Shyam Vasudevan of her disappointment, and frustration at what could have been had the sporting community united.
(ESPN spoke to the Vinesh before the WFI elections)
Japanese wrestler Risako Kawai tweeted in support of the wrestlers, but hardly 2-3 Indian athletes did that. Did you feel that other Indian athletes should have also backed you guys?
Everyone is very greedy, they’re not as mad as us (laughs). A time comes when you need to stand up. Athletes talk big on TV and say they want Indian sports to grow, but you need to do something for that. Some tweeted, [and I’d like to say] thank you very much.
But in such a big fight, a tweet is not enough. It was not a formality to tweet. Ek tweet karne se sab theek hoiayega. Oho, aap toh bohot bade mahaan ho. Aapne tweet kardiya aur aapke tweets se duniya hil jayegi [putting out a tweet does not make you a great person. The world does not change because of one tweet.] No. Aapko aur effort daalna chahiya tha [you needed to put in more effort] if you want to actually clean Indian sports. Especially when you know of the rot in the community, across sports.
But I mean, what do I say? It’s good that they’re winning medals, but it frustrates me when they preach about wanting to bring about change. When such big Indian athletes were protesting, they should have sat down with us and backed us. The entire system could have changed in one night. If all of India’s sportspersons sat down in protest, no one could have neglected it. And this would have benefitted not just wrestling, but all sports. But no one saw the opportunity.
Everyone is looking out for themselves. No one wants to lose their advertisements or get into controversies. This was not a controversy; it was a genuine problem in Indian sport. It’s not like we sat on the streets just like that. They should have come and supported us, but it’s fine, what can we do now? I am happy that even if I die, I won’t have any regrets. No one can tell me that I only looked at my interests.
Our sportspersons don’t deserve such treatment, right? I mean you are a two-time Olympian…
In India, politics ke uppar kuch nahi hai (nothing is bigger than politics). This is what we learnt. We had an idea [of it] earlier, but now we saw it first-hand. No matter if you are an Olympic or national medallist, you are below their feet and will always remain there.
I would never advise anyone to fight against the system. You cannot change this country considering the amount of gandagi [filth] there is. If you are one person who wants to make a change, there are 50 bad people. How many can you change? We have met so many people, just the way they looked at us…[and said] aur batao, kya kiya? [Go on, tell us. What did they do?]
We met the top-most officials and they asked us: “Haan batao, kis ladki ke saath kya kiya? Mujhe batao [tell us, what was done to which girl?]” How can you ask any woman that? And when we told them, all the girls told them what had happened, what did they do about it? Majje liya ladkiyon ke, bas.[they mocked the girls, that’s all] “Proof nahi hai.” [“There is no proof”]
You’re telling me the authorities cannot find the proof if they want to? Get his (Brij Bhushan’s) call records. Arrest him and do dande maaro [whack him twice] and he will tell you what all kaand [mischief] he has done. Big terrorists also tell the truth when hit, yeh kis khet ki mooli hai? [who is he to hold out?] But they don’t want to change the system.
You say it so easily…that you’re ready to give up your life. I’m sure there are more layers to it…
I am not scared of dying, let me be very honest with you. I don’t want to die in fear. I want to live with pride, I would rather die than live in fear. I have lived my life well, from childhood until now. I have always spoken what was in my mind. Abhi tak kuch nhi ukhad paya koi, toh aage kya ukhadega? [no one has managed to do anything so far, what will anyone do going ahead?]
My family does worry a lot. But Somvir [Rathee, her husband and also a wrestler] is just like me, we have the same wavelength. He also wants to live by the truth. Our thought process is the same. His parents and my mother are old and hence worry about us, but we convince them. But it’s true, they are a lot more worried now. My mother calls me 4-5 times a day to check in on me.
