‘Spent 12 hours with wrestlers,’ says Anurag Thakur; gets ‘not even 12 minutes’ reply

Ace Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia on Thursday dismissed sports minister Anurag Thakur's claim that he spent 12 hours with the protesting wrestlers to address their concern, saying the minister sat with the aggrieved athletes only for a few minutes and mostly his officials mediated on the matter.

“The sports minister is saying that he spoke to the players for 12 hours. Once ask the Sports Minister for how long you were sitting among the players. He sat for 2-4 minutes with the players. His officials were mediating with the players,” Punia told reporters on Thursday evening.

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Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, one of the three central characters in the renewed protests against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, echoed Punia and said the sports minister didn't even spend 12 minutes over the issue let alone 12 hours. Phogat also alleged that the wrestlers were at times even intimidated during the meetings held to resolve the issue.

Anurag Thakur on Thursday said the government gave chances to all the protesting wrestlers to present their case before the oversight committee, and reiterated its commitment to an "impartial probe" into the charges against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

"A few wrestlers are sitting in protest at Jantar Mantar. I have spent 12 hours hours with them -- seven hours on the first day and five hours the next day (in January). I had listened to all their grievances, held a press conference at 2-2.30 at night, formed a committee after talking to them.

"They had asked to add a member and gave Babita Phogat's name, and we added her to the committee. There is nothing in our mind, we wanted an impartial probe," Thakur said at a press conference in Shimla.

"Whoever wanted to present their version before the oversight committee, was given a chance to do so, there were no restrictions. We even increased the timeline of the probe, there were 14 meetings. Whoever wanted to come, came. We gave a chance to every athlete to present their case."

The IOA and the government had managed to placate the wrestlers with assurances to probe their allegations against Sharan and the wrestling federation after the protest first broke out in January. The wrestlers have renewed the protest demanding that an FIR be registered against the BJP MP on the basis of their police complaint, followed by his arrest under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as one of the complainants is a minor.