New Delhi: Wrestlers Sakshee Malikkh and Bajrang Punia clarified Monday that they had re-joined their work, but not withdrawn from the ongoing protest against wrestling federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
After news of her ‘withdrawal’ went viral on social media, Malikkh tweeted that it was “completely wrong” and that she’s still very much part of the protests.
“I am handling work alongside the non-violent resistance. Please don’t run any fake news regarding the same,” she wrote in Hindi.
ये खबर बिलकुल ग़लत है। इंसाफ़ की लड़ाई में ना हम में से कोई पीछे हटा है, ना हटेगा। सत्याग्रह के साथ साथ रेलवे में अपनी ज़िम्मेदारी को साथ निभा रही हूँ। इंसाफ़ मिलने तक हमारी लड़ाई जारी है। कृपया कोई ग़लत खबर ना चलाई जाए। pic.twitter.com/FWYhnqlinC
— Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) June 5, 2023
Malikkh reached her office at Northern Railways in Delhi Monday morning, which was confirmed by Deepak Kumar, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway, to ThePrint. He also said that Bajrang Punia had rejoined work.
Punia also put up a tweet confirming that there was no call to end the protest and that it would continue till justice is meted out.
आंदोलन वापस लेने की खबरें कोरी अफ़वाह हैं. ये खबरें हमें नुक़सान पहुँचाने के लिए फैलाई जा रही हैं.
हम न पीछे हटे हैं और न ही हमने आंदोलन वापस लिया है. महिला पहलवानों की एफ़आईआर उठाने की खबर भी झूठी है.
इंसाफ़ मिलने तक लड़ाई जारी रहेगी 🙏🏼 #WrestlerProtest pic.twitter.com/utShj583VZ
— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) June 5, 2023
Meanwhile, various unconfirmed news circulated throughout Monday morning about the ongoing protests of wrestlers against Brij Bhushan. Earlier, a section of the media erroneously reported that a minor wrestler had withdrawn her complaint against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief, but later her father denied it in conversation with ThePrint.
Malikkh’s husband Satyavart Malikkh told a news agency that “fake news is being spread to weaken the protests”. “Neither have we compromised, nor will we step back. This is fake news. We will not take back the protest,” he told ANI.
Wrestlers had been protesting at Jantar Mantar for over a month demanding the immediate arrest of BJP MP Brij Sharan. On 28 May, the Delhi Police detained the wrestlers when they marched towards the new Parliament building and cleared the protest site at Jantar Mantar.
The wrestlers then reached Haridwar to symbolically immerse their medals but were persuaded by farmer leaders to give them some time. Subsequently, the farmer unions have set 9 June as the deadline to the government for arresting Brij Sharan.
Since then farmer unions have been conducting mahapanchayats in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to determine the course of the protests.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Meet the protesters standing for their wrestling heroes—barefoot, jobless, homeless in Delhi