Rahul Gandhi takes a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over WFI controversy

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media while sharing a post of wrestler Vinesh Phogat returning Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award. He stated that Modi being a Prime Minister is the guardian of the nation and he shouldn't show such cruelty.

Hyderabad:Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi via a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, regarding the ongoing controversy surrounding the appointment of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) panel.

A day after Vinesh Phogat returned prestigious awards, Rahul Gandhi took to X to share a video of the wrestler while taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said "For every daughter of the country, self-respect comes first, any other medal or honour comes after that. Today, has the cost of 'political gains' derived from a 'ghoshit baahubali' (declared 'strongman') becomes greater than the tears of these brave daughters?".

World Championship medalist and star grappler Vinesh Phogat recently returned the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award to the Centre. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Asian Games gold medalist wrestler stated that she had decided to return the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award to the government. Phogat had opined that such honours have become meaningless in a scenario where the wrestlers in the country are struggling hard to get justice.

She tried to reach the Prime Minister's office to return her awards but the Delhi police had stopped her. To display her protest, she left her awards at the Kartavya Path in the national capital but they were later picked up by Delhi Police.

Phoghat along with star wrestler Bajrang Punia had also opposed the appointment of Sanjay Singh as the chief of the Wrestling Federation of India as he is a close aide of Brij Bhushan Singh, whom they had accused of sexually harassing women grapplers. The sports ministry had suspended the WFI as they violated the code of conduct by announcing junior championships after which the Indian Olympics Association formed an ad-hoc committee to oversee the day-to-day affairs of the suspended body.

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