Immersion of medals in sacred Ganga

05/06/2023

The attempt of immersing the Gold Medals, Bronze Medals by the protesting wrestlers won by them in Rio Olympics, Tokyo Olympics, Commonwealth games as well as in Asian games at 'Har-Ki-Pouri' in Haridwar (Uttrakhand) as symbolic protest, is not just painful but a black dot in the history of sports where sports are propagated in very high tone by the government such as 'Khelo India'. A large gathering assembled at Har-ki-Pauri, raising their emotions high, and witnessing the wrestlers' poignant demonstration after they reached there with their world championship and Olympic medals. It was only after a talk with Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president that they decided to defer their decision by five days. Every country attaches great importance to winning medals, gold medals to be precise, at the Olympic Games, because it is a matter of national pride, symbol of national strength and a good way of commanding respect from others. But Alas! Here in India the Olympian Medalists are protesting, crying and are suffering. The police and the system appear to be treating them as criminals whereas those mentioned in the First Information Report are under the patronage of powerful political persons and are looked at with sympathy goggles by the police. If we go with the statement of the Delhi Police, it has filed two FIRs against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh after the Supreme Court intervened. The first FIR has been registered under the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) along with relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It was filed based on the allegations of a minor. The Act has been instrumental in providing a robust justice mechanism for the victims of sexual abuse. The second FIR was registered for a comprehensive investigation into the complaints by other complainants under relevant sections pertaining to outraging of modesty.
The wrestlers have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23 to demand the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India president and sitting MP, who has been accused of sexual harassment by seven women wrestlers, including a minor. The political hawks in power are trotting on the issue with political specks as the person around whom all this matter is hovering is a muscle man with a fatty wallet and Vote Bank ATM of a particular political party. The fundamental rights of these protesting wrestlers as enshrined under article 19 of the Indian Constitution have been stripped like that of a dressed chicken. This has created a negative image of the country. At a national and international level, the achievements in sport that may be of a team or an individual needs to be celebrated as a national festival to honor our sports heroes, what they represent and what they value. Shared sporting successes promote a sense of national identity and pride, and act as a catalyst for challenging perceptions, and even inspire young people to seek to emulate the successes of their sports heroes.
We give a rousing reception, we tweet, we congratulate one another for the laurels, when these Medalists hovers the flags of our country on foreign soil and register their supremacy in field events all over the world. In this matter, the top leadership of our country is also at the forefront of giving praise and patting their backs. But it appears that such messages are only symbolic in nature and not from the core of the heart in real sense. Whenever such highly regarded heroes require any attention from the government, police, or society for their grievances, they hide behind politics for vote. Otherwise too these national heroes are not the Vote Bank ATMs for the political parties that require musclemen like one mentioned in the FIRs, who can muster vote for these power lusty politicians. The shielding of a tainted person named in FIR accused of POCSO sections at the cost of the honor of the country is a shameful act and the country is witnessing it in their own way.
When the honor of the country is at stake, it is expected that top leadership of the country step in to diffuse the situation but here they are sitting like silent ducks to shield those, named in FIR for serious nature of offence. Otherwise too we are well aware and have witnessed the arrogant attitude of the Government during Kissan Aandolan that claimed hundreds of lives of innocent farmers and that initially remained in creating divide among farmers, but ultimately how by apologizing, the laws of the farmers were withdrawn.
The roping in of 'Bharatiya Kisan Sangh', Khap Panchayats and United World Wrestling (UWW) confirming their support for a fair and just resolution for their concern is going to give strength to the protesting wrestlers and we are assessing it to be proceeding like that of 'Kissan Aandolan'. We are witnessing the same situation now. We are strong supporter of 'Criminal Justice System' where all, complainant, accu-sed, as well as witnesses have rights during the process of the investigation and we must honor and extend all such rights to them but by stalling all process for political gain by political masters by misusing their authority and power is also a slap on the face of the 'Criminal Justice System'. The 'Rule of Law', the core value in 'Justice System', appears to be in shambles. Last but not least, 'you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time - Abraham Lincoln.'
(President Senior Citizens' Club (Regd) Udhampur. Views expressed are personal.)

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