Mannat Saini, Pune
Ahead of the Haryana elections, Olympian-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat claims that she refused to take Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call following her disqualification due to the conditions put ahead of her, mandating the recording of the call. Contesting from the Julana seat, Vinesh Phogat went on to claim that while she would have appreciated and reciprocated a call from the Prime Minister, however, she did not feel comfortable being recorded in such a sensitive matter involving her emotions and lifelong hard work.
In a recent interview with Lallantop, Vinesh Phogat claimed that the recording of the interaction was to be used in the form of a video on social media and that she feared that social media users would create “fun” of her emotions.
She described that while she was initially looking forward to speaking to PM Modi, the interaction was not linear from his end and that the call did not come directly to her and was rather Indian officials in Paris who were given the task of negotiating the conditions. The conditions mandated that two officials be present with Vinesh Phogat during the call, while none of Phogat’s team members were permitted to be present alongside her. Moreover, the call was to be recorded, to later be presented on social media.
She went on to claim that while she would have appreciated the guidance in such a challenging time, she felt disrespected by the request to publicize the conversation. She also remarked that he went on to personally congratulate all other athletes and had he really cared about her, he would have had a candid conversation with her. She feels that he feared that she would question him about the wrestlers’ protest and thus he did not permit her to record the telephonic interaction from her end.
Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the 50kg wrestling final due to a weight miss by a mere 100 grams. While she has since voiced her frustration over the matter, she reports having been frustrated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his silence during the wrestlers’ protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik were at the forefront of these protests, demanding justice against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for the alleged sexual misconduct.