A scuffle broke out between the members of Khap panchayat during their meeting in support of the protesting wrestlers on Friday in Haryana’s Kurukshetra. In a video posted by news agency ANI, several Khap members can be seen engaged in a war of words. However, the reason behind the scuffle is not yet known.
On Thursday, around 50 representatives of the Khap Panchayat members met in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar and decided to support the ongoing protest by India’s top wrestlers against Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) former chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexually harassing several women grapplers. They also said they will meet President Droupadi Murmu to press for action against Singh even as the Union government reiterated it was handling the matter “sensitively”.
After nearly three hours of discussions, the Khap members had said they will announce a slew of other decisions at a mahapanchayat in Haryana on Friday.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Naresh Tikait – who is leading the meetings of the Khap members – said that they will fight till the wrestlers get justice. “The wrestlers won laurels for the country and their only caste is the ‘tiranga’ (Tricolour). Now, the society will fight for them,” he said.
On Tuesday, Tikait convinced the top wrestlers – Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia – who have been protesting since April 23, to hold off on immersing their medals in the Ganga amid high drama in Haridwar. They later issued a five-day ultimatum to the authorities to act against the WFI chief.
