NCP wants Thakur, Irani to step in to resolve issues raised by wrestlers

Sharad Pawar's NCP said on Sunday that Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Smriti Irani should step in to address the concerns raised by top wrestlers protesting here against former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.

"(Youth Affairs And Sports Minister) Anurag Thakur and Smriti Irani must intervene immediately and ask the Delhi Police, which works under the Union home ministry, to take immediate action. If they cannot do this for people who have won laurels for our country, then what can common citizens expect?" NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto asked.

India's top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, returned to the protest site Jantar Mantar on Sunday and demanded that the government make public the findings of an oversight panel that investigated sexual harassment allegations against Singh.

The six-member oversight panel, headed by legendary boxer MS Mary Kom, had submitted its report in the first week of April but the government has not yet made it public.

"Why is Woman and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani avoiding this issue. Would she have not raised it if it had happened in Amethi or Wayanad, the NCP spokesperson asked.

Crasto said it was sad to see the kind of treatment meted out to the country's wrestlers.

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre and their ministers bask in the glory of our sportspersons when they win laurels, but now the same are betraying them in their hour of need, the NCP spokesperson said.