Indian Wrestling Federation rejects allegations against president, calls protest a conspiracy – The New Indian Express

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By Express Press Service

NEW DELHI: The Indian Wrestling Federation on Saturday dismissed all allegations against its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Like the president earlier, the response also called the entire episode a “conspiracy.” The country’s top wrestlers staged a sit-in protest against the WFI chief at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi until the matter was resolved by a meeting with the sports minister on Friday night. The protesting wrestlers said they were happy with the assurance given by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and that they would end their protest.

The response that the ministry had requested from WFI was also sent. According to the response available with The New Indian Express, WFI dismissed the allegations of mismanagement and sexual harassment made against Singh. Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, World Championship medalists Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik were among the wrestlers who raised the issues plaguing the federation.

In its response, WFI stated that it “draws attention to the fact that neither the management nor any member of the office of WFI condones the arbitrariness and mismanagement of WFI nor does it prefer undue acceptance of a unreasonable request of a wrestler or otherwise”.

The WFI maintained that its policies are transparent and available on the website. The response said the wrestlers were acting out of “vested interest”.

He said that “therefore, media protesters cannot be taken seriously, who clearly acted more in their own self-interest or under undue pressure or as part of a larger conspiracy to slander and defame the current leadership of WFI or the President, WFI for vested interests only, for which protesting wrestlers are responsible to explain for themselves, to the public as well as to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Department of Sports , Government of India, especially when most of the protesters are seen to be obviously from a particular region/State of Haryana.”

READ ALSO | Day after being asked to step down as WFI chief, Brij Bhushan Singh chief guest at UP wrestling event

The WFI said the protest is not in the best interests of the wrestlers and will not help promote the sport.

“It would also be useful to draw attention to the fact that even the next election for the leadership of WFI is scheduled for the near future in the year 2023,” WFI said. “All these reasons and facts relating to the above obviously indicate that the protest is not in the best interest of the wrestlers or for the promotion of good wrestling in India, but has a personal and hidden agenda to dislodge the current le fairer and stricter management of WFI and also by conspiracy to create such unfavorable atmosphere in public to create undue pressure to slander and thereby defame for their hidden agenda directly or indirectly.”

No complaints of sexual harassment

The WFI also dismissed the allegations of sexual harassment, saying no such complaint had been received by the internal complaints committee of which Sakshi is one of five members.

“Any aggrieved person/wrestler may approach the said committee for their grievances, if any, which committee is bound to investigate according to law. However, no complaints of any kind that have been aired by the protesters/ wrestlers has been received,” WFI said. “Therefore, such media reports without any specific complaints received can never be considered by WFI’s Sexual Harassment Committee, nor can such allegations be affirmed or confirmed, except to be denied to have been so made as some kind of motivated, biased, unsubstantiated, false and false allegations solely for the purpose of harming the President, WFI or the coaches of WFI.”

“The manner and method of the protesters/wrestlers to air their allegations by sitting down at Dharna and also at dong’s press conference is certainly part of a deeper and broader conspiracy for vested interests either by pressuring on some weak wrestlers for vested interests either to gain ground for themselves by slandering and defaming WFI management or its president or coaches and not otherwise,” WFI said.

“No allegation of sexual harassment is accepted or has ever been noticed or found or so far filed a complaint or reported to WFI’s Sexual Harassment Committee, therefore, allegations to this effect are equally malicious and without foundation without being in any way truthful…”

NEW DELHI: The Indian Wrestling Federation on Saturday dismissed all allegations against its president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Like the president earlier, the response also called the entire episode a “conspiracy.” The country’s top wrestlers staged a sit-in protest against the WFI chief at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi until the matter was resolved by a meeting with the sports minister on Friday night. The protesting wrestlers said they were happy with the assurance given by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur and that they would end their protest. The response that the ministry had requested from WFI was also sent. According to the response available with The New Indian Express, WFI dismissed the allegations of mismanagement and sexual harassment made against Singh. Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, World Championship medalists Vinesh Phogat and Anshu Malik were among the wrestlers who raised the issues plaguing the federation. In its response, WFI stated that it “draws attention to the fact that neither the management nor any member of the office of WFI condones the arbitrariness and mismanagement of WFI nor does it prefer undue acceptance of a unreasonable request of a wrestler or otherwise”. The WFI maintained that its policies are transparent and available on the website. The response said the wrestlers were acting out of “vested interest”. He said that “therefore, media protesters cannot be taken seriously, who clearly acted more in their own self-interest or under undue pressure or as part of a larger conspiracy to slander and defame the current leadership of WFI or the President, WFI for vested interests only, for which protesting wrestlers are responsible to explain for themselves, to the public as well as to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Department of Sports , Government of India, especially when most of the protesters are seen to be obviously from a particular region/State of Haryana.” READ ALSO | Day after being asked to step down as WFI chief, Brij Bhushan Singh chief guest at UP wrestling event WFI says protest is not in best interest of wrestlers and will not help not to promote the sport. “It would also be useful to draw attention to the fact that even the next election for the leadership of WFI is scheduled for the near future in the year 2023,” WFI said. “All these reasons and facts relating to the above obviously indicate that the protest is not in the best interest of the wrestlers or for the promotion of good wrestling in India, but has a personal and hidden agenda to dislodge the current le fairer and stricter management of WFI and also by conspiracy to create such unfavorable atmosphere in public to create undue pressure to slander and thereby defame for their hidden agenda directly or indirectly.” No Complaints of Sexual Harassment The WFI also dismissed the allegations of sexual harassment saying that no such complaint had been received by the internal complaints committee of which Sakshi is one of five members. “Any aggrieved person/wrestler may approach the said grievance committee, if any, which committee is required by law to investigate. However, no complaints of any kind aired by protesters/wrestlers have been received,” WFI said. “Therefore, such media reports without any specific complaints received can never be considered. by the WFI Sexual Harassment Committee, neither such allegations can be affirmed nor confirmed, except to be denied to have been so made as a kind of motivational, biased, unsubstantiated, false and false allegations solely for the purpose of to harm the president, WFI or the coaches of WFI.” “The manner and method of the protesters/wrestlers to air their allegations by sitting at Dharna and also at dong’s press conference is definitely part of a greater conspiracy deep and wider for vested interests, either by pressuring certain weak wrestlers for vested interests or to gain ground for themselves by slandering and defaming the di management of WFI or its president or the coaches and not otherwise,” WFI said. “No allegation of sexual harassment is accepted or has ever been noticed or found or so far filed a complaint or reported to WFI’s Sexual Harassment Committee, therefore, allegations to this effect are equally malicious and without foundation without being in any way truthful…”

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