West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday took to the streets for the second straight day in support of the protesting wrestlers by holding a candlelight march from the statue of Gostha Pal to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Mayo Road-Dufferin Road crossing in Kolkata. Describing the wrestlers’ struggle as a “struggle for life, justice, and independence”, the CM said that she will “fight till protesting wrestlers get justice”.
In a video posted by news agency ANI, the TMC supremo can be seen leading a group of protesters with a candle in her hand.
On Wednesday, Banerjee participated in a protest march that started at the Hazra Road crossing in the southern part of Kolkata and ended at Rabindra Sadan. Other protesters can be seen holding placards with the message ‘We want justice’ and ‘We are with you wrestlers’ written on them.
Addressing the rally, Banerjee demanded the immediate arrest of Wrestling Federation of India’s former chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who has been accused of sexually harassing several women grapplers, and said, “We promise to continue our protest against the BJP government at the Centre until the culprit is arrested.”
“Even after the Supreme Court has given a judgment, the BJP government at the Centre is unable to arrest the accused. On the contrary, I have asked the police that they can arrest TMC leaders, if genuine complaints are received against them,” she added.
After a chaotic day in the national capital on May 28 when several top wrestlers including Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, and Bajrang Punia were detained and their protest site at Jantar Mantar was removed, the top agitating wrestlers went to Haridwar to immerse their medals in the river Ganga. However, they were stopped by farm leader Naresh Tikait. The wrestlers later issued a five-day ultimatum to the authorities to act against the WFI chief.