Vinesh Phogat: Former Olympian Breaks Silence on Refusal to Meet PM Modi After Paris Olympics: Here’s Why
Former Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who had turned down the call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Paris Olympics 2024, has now spoken openly on the issue. The wrestling athlete is currently contesting in Haryana Assembly elections as an independent candidate from the Julana constituency, fielded by the Congress party. “I rejected the call because of politicization of the athletes’ emotions and efforts,” she explained to India Today. It has now revealed her position on the concerns of how athletes are treated and how true conversations matter.
Why Vinesh Phogat Refused to Talk to PM Modi
I had explained my reasons for not accepting the video call with the Prime Minister. This was because the call by the Prime Minister was not direct but came through Indian officials at the Paris Olympics,” Vinesh Phogat, the celebrated wrestler, has said about her on-court heroics. While she agreed to speak to the Prime Minister, conditions followed that led her to refuse the interaction.
She claims that both officials from the government side wanted to tape-record the conversation for its usage on social media. And her team members were not to be present during the call. This made what could have been a real conversation an act of publicity for Phogat. Her emotions and hard work are going to be a political gain, and this is something Phogat does not care for.
The call had come (from PM) but I refused to speak, Phogat told The Lallantop in an interview. “The call did not come directly to me. Indian officials who were there informed me that he wanted to talk. And I was ready. But they put conditions-no one from my team would be present, while two people from their side would record the conversation for social media.”.
For Phogat, lack of transparency and the possibility of her words being manipulated through selective editing did all the more reaffirm her decision. She maintained that she wanted a real, unplanned talk with the Prime Minister rather than one staged and done for public display: “I didn’t want my emotions and hard work to be made fun of on social media,” she said.
The Value of Authentic Support
However, Phogat’s unwillingness to answer the call speaks of a larger issue with regards to the treatment of sports personages in the public domain. The wrestler suggests that if PM Modi really did care about the welfare of the athletes, he would have gotten on and stayed on to say what he had to say without having to record or impose conditions. In the eyes of Phogat, it would have meant that he truly gave a damn about her well-being and her success.
“If he genuinely had a concern for the welfare of athletes, he could have called without recording it and I would have thanked him,” says Phogat. Her agony did not end with the incident after the Olympics alone, but also in the way PM Modi didn’t comment on the wrestlers’ protest against the previous WFI head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
And in this regard, perhaps the water crisis proved to be an added impetus. Somehow, these protests by Phogat and Sakshi Malik, one of the other Olympians who later protested, seemed to gather momentum with the demand for legal action against Singh on charges of misconduct and abuse of power. Phogat said how disappointed she felt when officials concerned, and also that included the Prime Minister, did not send any reply to the aftermath of the protests. It was almost as if a nagging feeling about the concerns she thought mattered, namely the welfare of the athletes and the lack of justice meted out to her fellow wrestlers, had not mattered.
“Perhaps he knows if I talk to Vinesh she will raise questions about the last two years,” Phogat guessed, pointing to her involvement with the protests against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. She thought that these sensitive issues would have been discussed had a sincere conversation occurred, which, by itself, would not have warranted recording. She also said that if the call were to take place on her conditions, then she herself would upload the full conversation to prevent manipulation of words and language.
Heartbreak Exit from the Paris Olympics
Vinesh Phogat’s Olympic campaign in 2024 came to a disastrous end. She was competing in the final of 50kg and was disqualified for going light by a hundred grams. This was a heartbreaking incident, which ended her campaign prematurely, making her as well as her fans feel sour.
Reflecting on her sojourn in Paris Olympics, Phogat adds that technicality took all the emotions away from the heart and had it been a day one when she had shown some defect, she would have felt bad for not being able to live up to the level which she knew was high, but all these years of hard work and arduous practice for nothing just because of a technicality that got her disqualified, and still, she wasn’t getting support from the officials back home.
Disqualification had come at a time when there were already several months of turmoil over Phogat and fellow athletes who had been contending with controversies regarding leadership within the WFI.
Already under immense stress from her protests and vociferous claims of injustice, Phogat has now added weight on her shoulders with the disqualification.
Vinesh Phogat Part in Wrestlers Protest
It cannot be taken in isolation that Vinesh Phogat is turning down PM Modi’s call. Her decision is, in fact, a reaction against the larger backdrop of how sportspersons are treated within India, especially if they are vocal against anything. Phogat was one of the front runners of protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of misconduct while he was the head of WFI.
With Sakshi Malik, Phogat became a symbol of mobilization against Indian sports governance and the abuses of power that has been a reality on this side of the playground. When people like Phogat and Malik were on the streets protesting, “standing in Gandhi’s line,” key figures such as PM Modi stayed silent on the issue.
“For the past two years, we have been fighting for justice, but no one in the government spoke for us,” Phogat lamented. Her reluctance to talk to PM Modi after the Olympics actually betrays a bitter disappointment at the lack of hear of the call from the country’s top leadership regarding her grievances as a sportswoman.
Conclusion: A Stand for Integrity
Vinesh Phogat’s decision not to go ahead with a pre-recorded, condition-laden conversation with Prime Minister Modi, after the Paris Olympics, reflects her commitment towards integrity. The case was never just about a phone call but standing up for the pure concern and care that athletes deserve without the overt act of political posturing.
Phogat’s story reminds us that athletes are no mere public figures but are individuals who need respect in and out of the sporting field. As she goes into a new role in politics, Phogat’s commitment to fighting for the welfare of athletes and sticking to her conscience will define her.
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