New Delhi: When receptionist Vikas Kumar heard about the wrestlers’ protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar in May, he left his desk in a Noida hotel and reached the protest site, and never left it.
Kumar, a hotelier from Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu has grown up around wrestlers in his community, always fascinated with the sport they play. As he spent more time with the wrestlers protesting against the Federation chief Brij Bhushan Singh, he started feeling deeply for their cause. “I couldn’t believe this is the kind of exploitation my heroes go through,” he says.
Not bothering about the loss of income or his future, Kumar eventually left his job to volunteer full time at Jantar Mantar, helping with the day-to-day activities. So on 28 May, when police came cracking down on protesters, Kumar says, he too was dragged and detained, along with all other protesters and taken to the Paschim Vihar police station.
After being released, he didn’t know where to go. All his brethren were scattered and the protest site cleared. The only thing he was sure of was that he wasn’t home until wrestlers got ‘justice’. “I left my home to sleep on the roads in order to ensure that Brij Bhushan is arrested. I had resolved to not go home until that happens. So as long as Brij Bhushan is free, I am homeless,” Kumar says.
Kumar is among half-a-dozen other protesters who have made special sacrifices for the wrestlers’ cause. ThePrint met three such protesters at Kurukshetra where a kisan mahapanchayat was organised to garner support for the players. While two of them — including Vikas — have resolved to not step inside their houses until Singh is arrested, another protester, Krishna, has gone barefoot. Vijay Hindustani, another protester who had been going to Jantar Mantar regularly has written to the President to give him euthanasia, if wrestlers’ demands aren’t met, according to media reports.
These supporters form the third line of agitators after the grapplers. While Vinesh, Bajrang and Sakshi became the face of the protests, their family members and spouses looked after the day-to-day operations at the site that included coordinating with the media.
The likes of Vikas, Krishna and Vijay associated themselves with the protest without any connection with the wrestlers. They looked after the security arrangements at the protest site and ensured all visiting protesters had sufficient water, and even distributed fruits and snacks to the exhausted supporters and media.
From ensuring there were enough mattresses to sleep on, to securing the venue making sure no rabble rousers entered the temporary den of wrestlers, they ran the protest ecosystem.
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The outsider insiders
Krishna had first gained media attention during the farmers’ protest. And when wrestlers came to Jantar Mantar for the second time in May, he travelled with them to the national capital.
A farmer, Krishna has been barefoot since 25 May. His feet are full of blisters but resolve is absolute. “I fold my hands and request you all to come and join the protests. These are not daughters of one community. These are India’s daughters, daughters of the national flag. We need as much support as possible,” he says. When asked if he’s in any pain he says, “I don’t have any pain in my feet, if that’s what you’re asking. My pain is in my heart, because my champions are suffering.”
Since the beginning of the protests, wrestlers have inspired many students, working professionals and farmers among others to join their agitation. Before the site was cleared by the police, it saw a daily influx of visitors, many of whom came with their families, to deliver and hear impassioned speeches advocating action against the WFI chief. Students from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University also attended the protests on a regular basis.
Many farmers would stay the night at the protest site in solidarity. Some would come with bananas and apples — their own little contribution towards the protest. “I used to come to Ram Leela Maidan in 2011 for the India Against Corruption protests every day,” one such visitor had recalled in an earlier conversation with ThePrint. “I was younger then. I used to be there all the time. Now I’m a working professional and can’t spend too much time at the protest site. But I come here whenever possible,” he had said.
Naresh Kundu, another farmer, also hasn’t been home since the protests started. He is from Kaithal and had come to Jantar Mantar in May to spend a weekend with the pehelwans. But he was so inspired, he never left.
In his mid-50s, Kundu has been bunking with acquaintances and friends on most nights, or at Gurudwaras or dharamshalas. “God will look at my tapasya and give wrestlers victory very soon,” Kundu says.
(Edited by Anurag Chabuey)