Chandigarh: Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Saturday joined the protesting farmers at the Shambhu border near here, supporting their various long-standing demands including legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.
The event also marked the 200th day of the farmers’ stir ongoing since February 12 last when the farmers were stopped at Shambhu barrier from taking their “Delhi chalo’’ tractor-trolley march by Haryana police and security forces; they have been camping there since.
Addressing a farmers’ gathering on the occasion, Vinesh said, “your daughter is with you’’. Stating that the farmers are also residents of this country and have a right to protest, she held that their protest should not be mistaken for any politically motivated or associated with any particular caste or creed. “I belong to a family of farmers and understand their plight,’’ she said urging the government to resolve the issues concerning farmers.
#WATCH | At the farmers’ protest site at Shambhu border, Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat says, “Your agitation completes 200 days today. I pray to God that you get what you have come here for – your right, for justice…Your daughter stands with you. I also urge the Government.… pic.twitter.com/nUlkaTT399
— ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2024
Highlighting the difficulties faced by the protesting farmers camping at the said site, she said that if farmers do not provide food, then even the players would be able to do anything. “On one hand, we proudly represent our country on large platforms as the Olympics, but back home our families are in distress and protesting for their rights’’, she said, urging the government to listen to the farmers’ demands.
NO COMMENTS ON JOINING POLITICS
Vinesh, however, refrained from commenting on her plans to join politics and contest in the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana, when asked by the newspersons in the context.
She held that she did not want to talk about it as she had come to meet her family members (farmers). Stating that she is a sportsperson and elections are not her concern she said that her focus is on the welfare of farmers.
Even as talks were agog that she might join Congress and fight election, former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had also rubbished questions in this context terming them as “hypothetical questions’’.
For record, Vinesh had announced to retire from wrestling after being disqualified as she was found overweight ahead of her gold medal bout at the Paris Olympics.
Notably, Vinesh’s visit to the farmers protest site held significance in the backdrop of the elections in Haryana and the recent controversial statements made by the actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut against the protesting farmers. In the recent Lok Sabha election too, the BJP leaders in Haryana have faced ire of the farmers.
On Friday only, various farm bodies had protested against the National Investigation Agency (NIA) when it raided the houses of a woman leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union, and others in Bathinda.
