'I sat with them for 12 hrs': Anurag Thakur gives detailed response on wrestlers' protest

Union Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry Anurag Thakur yet again opened up on the ongoing Wrestlers’ Protest in Jantar Mantar on Thursday. A day after ensuring a fair investigation into the matter during his appearance at the Republic Summit 2023, Thakur was yet again asked to put forward his stance on the protest being held against the Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Speaking to reporters, Thakur emphasized how sports and athletes are the priority of the government in power.

“As far as athletes are concerned, Narendra Modi’s government has done an excellent job for athletes across the country. You can go and ask one athlete after another, be it the TOPS scheme, the government is paying for the athletes training overseas. They are given INR six lakh as a stipend. 3000 athletes receive  INR  5 lakh for boarding, lodging, and training, and INR 1 lakh as stipend under the Khelo India initiative,” the Sports Minister told reporters.

We heard wrestlers for 12 hours & formed a committee, we also want an impartial probe, there were 14 meetings that were conducted. Everybody was given an opportunity to keep their point of view in front of an oversight committee. FIR can be registered at any PS: Union Sports… pic.twitter.com/AjUhhWzX6g

— ANI (@ANI) April 27, 2023

READ: Republic Summit 2023 | 'Fair Investigation Will Be Followed': Anurag Thakur Speaks Out On Wrestlers' Protest

"How did this happen? Our support made all these possible"

After mentioning several other initiatives by the government, alongside the sports budget allocated, Thakur said, “7 Olympic medals, 19 medals in the Paralympics, 20 medals in the Deaf Olympics, 61 medals in the Commonwealth Games, which includes 22 gold medals. He had never won the Thomas Cup, we won that too. Four of our female athletes became World Champions in Boxing. How did this happen? Our support made all these possible”.

At the same time, shedding his thoughts on the wrestlers' protest against WFI, Thakur mentioned how he cancelled a tour of Himachal Pradesh to sit with the wrestlers for 12 hours. “If you look at the wrestlers protesting… I cancelled a tour of Himachal Pradesh to sit with them for 12 hours and talked to them! Seven hours one day and over five hours on another day. We did a press conference late in the night and formed a committee after consulting with them. They then said we should add one more person to it. We added Babita Phogat, after their recommendation. We wanted an independent probe,” he reportedly said.

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“Anyone who wanted to speak in front of the oversight committee, was given the chance to speak. There was no restriction. The time period of the probe increased because of them, we allowed that. There were 14 meetings of oversight committee. Whatever were the major findings mentioned in the report of the committee: that there should be nishpaksh chunav in 45 days and till then there should be an ad hoc committee in charge. There will be an ICC in place, you can take your issues there,” the sports minister added.