Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi strongly rejected the Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan's justification of his actions and dismiss the accusations made by the wrestlers about sexual harassment by him.
Chaturvedi shared a tweet with a link to the television interview of Brij Bhushan explaining that it was a fatherly hug and not anything that the wrestlers are accusing him of. Chaturvedi calls him out saying, "Sick and disgusting. Taking advantage of the powerful position he is in to exploit a wrestler who came to seek his help. No you don’t give ANY WOMAN A HUG WITHOUT HER CONSENT AND THEN JUSTIFY IT AS A FATHERLY HUG. "
She also pointed out the political connections of the WFI chief and added, "Shame on BJP for continuing to defend this person. Bigger shame that the WCD Minister is still shamelessly silent."
During the said television interview, the WFI chief was caught explaining what he claims one of the wrestlers had misjudged a fatherly hug as sexual harassment. He said that a woman wrestler was wanting to speak to her father but couldn't do it because of the lack of mobile phones so allegedly, Bhashan gave his phone to her so she could connect with her father. Further, he admits to having hugged her and when she felt uncomfortable, he explained the hug to be a fatherly one.
Indian world champion wrestlers like Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia along with other women wrestlers have been participating in a sit in at Jantar Mantar in Delhi asking for a committee to be formed to probe their allegations of sexual harassment against the WFI chief and his removal from the role.
Politicians like Priyanka Gandhi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Arvind Kejriwal and several others have visited their protest site and many more have extended their support through social media. The Indian government seems to be silent about this matter after reportedly promising a probe back in January.
