Wrestlers' Protest: At Khap Mahapanchayat, farmer leader asks grapplers to auction medals

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Days after stopping ace India wrestlers from throwing their medals into the Ganga River on the banks of Haridwar, farmer's leader Naresh Tikait on Thursday (June 1) suggested the protesting grapplers should auction the medals they won at various international events.

A Khap Mahapanchayat was held in Soram village in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh where Tikait - the Bharatiya Kisan Union leader and the head of Balyan Khap in Haryana - continued showing his support to the wrestlers who are protesting for the arrest of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a sitting BJP MP.

"I told them don't immerse the medals in the Ganga and put them up for auction. The entire world will come forward and ask you to stop the auction," Naresh Tikait said at the gathering.

Addressing the mega gathering in the western UP district, senior BKU leader Naresh Tikait said, "A Khap representative will meet the President and the government. Khap and these women (protesting wrestlers) won't be defeated. More decisions will be taken at Kurukshetra tomorrow."

Speaking on why the farmers and khaps are extending support to the protesting wrestlers, Tikait said, "It is good if the family is big. "...You should understand what the Central government is doing. They broke Lalu Yadav's family in Bihar. See what they did with Mulayam Singh Yadav's family. The same thing is happening in Rajasthan."

The protesting wrestlers - Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia along with others - have been demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan after sexual harassment charges against the BJP leader.

After Delhi Police's crackdown on the wrestlers and their detention during their march towards the New Parliament building on Sunday, the aggrieved wrestlers decided to throw their medals in Ganga.

Tikait had called for a Khap Mahapanchayat and urged the khaps of UP, Haryana and Rajasthan to support the wrestlers and help them get justice by putting pressure on the Central Government.