THOUGH on technical grounds, the Sports Ministry’s decision to suspend the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) till further notice comes as a welcome breather in the year-long saga that saw allegations, counter-arguments, judicial intervention and lots of heartburn among the wrestling fraternity. The Sports Ministry has flagged the non-conformity by the new WFI body with the National Sports Code while announcing hosting of junior wrestling tournament in Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda. It was alleged that the tournament was deliberately allotted to Nandini Nagar, Gonda which is the stronghold of tainted former President of WFI Mr. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. By cancelling the proposed tournament and suspending the WFI itself, the Sports Ministry has made a wise and timely move as it will give more time to all the parties in the conflict to reassess their decisions and stop making hasty moves that only bring bad name to the game and the country. The Sports Ministry’s decision to suspend WFI and request the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to form an ad-hoc committee to run the affairs of the federation has come immediately after the painful decision by Olympic medal winning wrestler Sakshi Malik’s retirement from the sports to protest the election of Mr. Sanjay Singh as the new WFI chief followed by the return of Padma Shri award by another Olympian wrestler Bajrang Punia. Both the developments created much discomfort in the corridors of power as both the wrestlers were at the forefront of a fight against Mr. Singh’s alleged indulgence in sexual harassment of female wrestlers.

 

Just as the female sportspersons were feeling dejected over inaction by the Government, the Sports Ministry stepped in and made a calculated move to suspend the new WFI body. It should now help in bringing the stakeholders in Indian wrestling to the discussion table and find a way out of the dirty episode which needs immediate closure through concrete actions and also quick judicial process. By suspending the WFI body and pulling up Mr. Sanjay Singh, a close aide of Mr. Brij Bhushan, for working at the behest of “former office-bearers in complete disregard to the Sports Code”, the Government has sounded a warning to Mr. Brij Bhushan to stay away from the federation at any cost. Mr. Brij Bhushan’s strong influence on the WFI working is well-known in the wrestling fraternity. It seems the BJP Member of Parliament took things too much for granted by forcing junior tournament in his stronghold and also making the new WFI function from his official bungalow. It proved the last straw for the Centre and the BJP as it cracked down on the federation on ‘technical grounds’.

 

The WFI episode provides another opportunity for the Centre to take another look at the working of National Sports Federations where many leaders have established their influence and made them their fiefdom. Despite having a strict code of conduct for NSFs, precious little has changed in their working as the allegations of sexual exploitation by female wrestlers against Mr. Brij Bhushan have shown. Whatever the truth is behind those allegations is for the investigation agencies and the courts to decide as per the merits of the case, yet, the developments leave a bad taste in mouth and also act as deterrents for budding sportspersons, especially girls and women. That said, the extreme steps taken by Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia, too, seem pretty hasty. They had already forced a police case against Mr. Brij Bhushan. The case was in the judicial domain. Instead of quitting over Mr. Sanjay Singh’s election, Sakshi could have just continued the fight to send a message of resolve. The Sports Ministry’s whip should help her rethink.