New Delhi: The 2023 Indian wrestlers’ protest against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) over sexual harassment that had Vinesh Phogat at the forefront compelled India’s first female World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler, Kavita Dalal, to break her silence of 15 years and share her own ordeal.
More than a year later, Dalal is fighting the election against Phogat from Haryana’s Julana constituency. With seat-sharing talks between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress having virtually broken down, the AAP has fielded the WWE wrestler against Phogat, naming Dalal in its fourth list released Wednesday.
The Haryana Assembly elections have been scheduled for October 5.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Yogesh Bairagi, the vice president of the state BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, and co-convenor of the BJP Sports cell, from the seat.
In 2023, Dalal, who began her career in weightlifting in 2000, alleged that she had been sexually harassed by a former IPS officer and then-president of the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF), Harbhajan Singh, in 2008. It led her to quit weight-lifting and take up wrestling instead, she had said.
“When such a situation arose in front of me, I could see nothing more than my self-respect,” she had said.
“If someone tries to force themselves on us, we can break their face…But a faint-hearted woman would get manipulated. When this happened with me, I didn’t have the courage to fight or speak up, so I changed my track.”
Born in 1986, Dalal, who also goes by the name “Kavita Devi”, went on to become the first female professional wrestler of Indian nationality to wrestle in WWE. In the 2016 South Asian Games, she won gold in the 75 kg category.
Her debut WWE match has over 30 million views on YouTube.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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