Why The Indian Government Should Support Wrestlers Vinesh And Sakshi

Indians have always disliked their daughters playing sports. There are many reasons for this, from the way sports change the way little girls look (tanned, stronger) and the clothes it requires you to wear to its power to unshackle girls from poverty and/or the patriarchy that has ruled their lives even before they were born. And this is only the tip of what women face on their journey to playing any sport seriously.

Still, some sports are more acceptable to a nation where the majority don’t play any sports. A third of Indians believe that sports such as wrestling, boxing, kabaddi, and weightlifting—key sports where our women have excelled globally—are unsuitable for women, a BBC survey of 10,181 Indians in 14 states found.

Sakshi Malik fought these odds to become India’s first female Olympic medallist in wrestling in 2016. She was 23. She became the face of the ‘Beti Bachao’ campaign. More girls flocked to wrestling. Vinesh Phogat, winner of two coveted World Wrestling Championship medals, is one of six legendary Phogat sisters feted across the world, their story immortalised in the history of global sport.

Now Sakshi and Vinesh are asking a government that has driven a very public and successful agenda on women and sport for several years (one that got a mention, most recently, in the 100th episode of the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat radio show) to keep a community of young sportswomen safe from sexual predators.

They’re asking a government that has ridden on the success of sportswomen—and even gained brownie points while commiserating with their disappointments—to speak up for them.

As a parent, I believe in the life-changing power of sports for women. My two-year-old daughter and I cheered boxing champ Mary Kom to an Olympic bronze win in 2012. For years, my child conjured up Kom when she needed help fighting imaginary "bad men." Now we are both fans of Nikhat Zareen. The London Olympics was also when my child learned to distinguish between Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal.

"The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports considers working towards gender equity to be of paramount importance," Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju wrote in 2021. "Young girls and women being exposed to sports will go a long way in improvement of their physical health and building character; this would go on to contribute significantly to societal reform and our human capital."

"Specifically for girl athletes, empathy and inclusiveness have been key drivers for game-changing reforms," Rijiju added. Now, when the country’s top sportswomen have revealed that, forgetting all these lofty ideals, they don’t even have the comfort of basic safety, the government remains silent.

India’s reluctance to speak up for our wrestlers sends a terrifying message to thousands of families who have bought into the country’s gung-ho rhetoric about gender equality in sport, driving up the participation of girls in events such as the Khelo India Games (a 161% increase from 2018 to 2020, according to Rijiju). Now, even as the percentage of Indian women’s participation in the Olympics has risen from 2.2% in 1990 to 47% in 2020 and our athletes are poised on the verge of greater success, the country’s most privileged, successful sportswomen have uncovered a grim truth, at great cost to themselves and their careers.

Nobody doubts the wrestlers’ story. Sexual harassment is an open secret in Indian sports—and now it’s one that the parents of every aspiring female athlete know. Will the families who have seen Vinesh and Sakshi crying for justice on the pavements of Delhi and being roughed up by the police ever give their daughters a chance to win an Olympic medal? Where does that leave the sporting dreams of a young girl in a village with no family history of sports?

Here’s an idea for the prime minister: Devote the 101st episode of Mann Ki Baat to supporting our wrestlers and apologise to the parents of India’s future sportswomen who have been forced to bear witness to this country’s inability to keep its finest female athletes safe. The PM can still prevent the ripple effect of this disaster from devastating every far-flung corner of the country where hopeful young girls have been ‘allowed’ to run and play because of his persistent cajoling.

He should also examine the responses of those who represent him. In one newspaper report, a government spokesperson calculated how much taxpayer money India had spent on the protesting athletes. Is he aware that India spends a mere 3 paise a day on sports? His government said so in Parliament in 2018.

Have the wrestlers shown themselves to be politically naive by pitting themselves against an elected representative who seems invaluable to the ruling party? Some of them have been dabbling in politics for a while. In 2020, Vinesh’s cousin Babita Phogat said "ignorant Jamaatis" were a bigger concern for India than the coronavirus. Unfortunately, sports doesn’t vaccinate you against spreading misinformation or believing in militant organisations such as the Bajrang Dal, as protesting wrestler Bajrang Punia has said he does. It also doesn’t ensure that just because you’ve taken photos with the PM, he can be counted on to be in your camp.

"Indian athletes always ensure they stay deferential and on the side of power in the hope of being at the receiving end of official largesse and benefits," says sports journalist Sharda Ugra. "What the wrestlers have discovered firsthand and the rest of the athletic community now internalises is that favours may never translate into justice."

It’s a lesson for all Indian athletes. Instead of tweeting support, they should go out there and stand beside Vinesh and Sakshi.

Priya Ramani is a Bengaluru-based journalist and is on the editorial board of Article-14.com.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BQ Prime or its editorial team.