'With all our medals, we thought we’d be heard': Bajrang Punia tells HT

New Delhi: In one corner of Jantar Mantar, a group of Meiteis from Manipur are protesting against the rampaging violence sweeping their state. Fifty metres to their left, a young man is delivering a passionate speech about unemployment and price rise. And between them, some YouTubers are trying to catch anyone who has an opinion and is willing to talk. Bajrang Punia takes a cursory look at the milieu, muses from across a barricade, and slowly shakes his head. “Sometimes you realise that yours is not the only grief in this world. There are people who have suffered more and for much longer,” the Olympic medal-winning wrestler told HT on Thursday.

Read: Wrestlers’ appeal to public as protest marks a month: ‘Light candles at homes’

Over the last 33 days, since he began a sit-in with fellow wrestlers demanding the arrest of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Punia says he and his compatriots have got a reality check. “We thought, with all our medals, that we would be heard. But the reality is different.”

Punia has realised that it’s a David versus Goliath fight; and the wrestlers, contrary to what they believed, are the Davids.

“We know what we are up against, but we are not scared,” Punia hastily added.

Last December, when wrestling superstars Punia, Vinesh Phogat, and Sakshi Malik decided to draw the framework of their January sit-in, they meticulously went over the worst possible outcomes. But the manner in which things have played out was beyond their scope.

“We knew our careers may end. We knew that post-career options such as coaching or administration may not be available to us. We knew we could be implicated in false cases. But when the cause is genuine and the resolve is strong, there is no room for fear. It wasn’t an easy decision, but once our minds were made, there were no second thoughts,” he said.

Read: 'Cut power, no water': Wrestler Bajrang Punia at Jantar Mantar

“Still, I never envisaged this protest to run so long. We thought since we are international athletes, the government will listen to us. That was the whole point of us risking our careers. It hurts that we have been left in the cold. But we are wrestlers, we won’t go down without a fight. I genuinely feel there are two sets of laws in this country -- one for common people and the other for powerful men like Singh.”

Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has ruled Indian wrestling for 12 years and is also a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gonda, has been accused by the wrestlers of sexual harassment and mental torture. He has denied the charges, and a police investigation is ongoing. But the wrestlers’ principal demand -- that he be arrested -- has not been met.

In an ideal world, Punia would be at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Sonepat, honing his skills to defend the Asian Games gold he won in 2018. But now his training plan is in tatters, his sporting ambitions quelled, his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal distant. Instead, his days are spent delivering speeches, deliberating with lawyers, and dealing with the media.

“In a sense, this is our introduction to the real world. As athletes, we live a very privileged, sanitised life. I met a woman here, a sexual harassment survivor, who has been protesting for over a year to get justice. She walked up to me and narrated her story. She said when she looks at our struggle, she finds the strength to fight,” he said. “I almost broke down. That’s why we say that it is not the fight for wrestlers alone; it is the fight for every woman in this country.”