olympic-medalist-bajrang-punia-gives-away-padma-shri-places-award-at-footpath

Olympic medalist wrestler Bajrang Punia on Friday announced to give away his “Padma Shri” following the appointment of Sanjay Singh as President of the Wrestling Federation of India. Punia publicized the decision in a letter addressing PM Narendra Modi on “X” platform. 

The wrestler sharing the letter wrote, “I am returning my Padma Shri award to the Prime Minister. This is just my letter to announce that. This is my statement”. Following the announcement, Bajrang kept the Padma Shri award on a footpath, outside the residence of the Prime Minister. The wrestler was also stopped by the police officials at Kartavya Path. 

Bajrang’s announcement came the next day after Sakshi Malik decided to quit the wrestling. The decisions of both the wrestlers comes as a sign of “disappointment” on the WFI chief’s selection. Sanjay Singh is a close aide of Brij Bhushan, who earlier this year was accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers. 

The letter shared by Punia further highlights the protest staged against Brij Bhushan. 

"Our protest went on for 40 days. There was much pressure on us during those days... we went to immerse our medals in the Ganga River. Then we were stopped by farmer leaders. At that time a minister from your cabinet called us up and assured of justice. Meanwhile, we met Union home minister Amit Shah who too promised us of justice. We stopped our protest”, Punia said in his letter.

"We all spent the night in tears. We did not understand what to do, or where to go. The government has given us a lot. I was conferred with the Padma Shri in 2019. I also received the Arjuna, Khel Ratna award. When I got these awards, I was on cloud nine. But today the sadness weighs more. And the reason is a woman wrestler left the sport because of her security,” the letter further reads. 

“I can't live my life as a Padma Shri awardee while our women wrestlers are insulted. Hence I return my award to you”, concludes the letter. 

Punia was awarded Padma Shri in 2019, besides this, he is also a recipient of  Arjuna and Khel Ratna award.