Poll In Sight, Political Games Play Out In Haryana Over Wrestler Vinesh Phogat's Olympic Heartbreak

Politics heats up in Haryana ahead of the assembly election after wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who is from the state, was disqualified from the 2024 Paris Olympics because her weight was slightly over the permissible limit.

Phogat was playing in the 50-kilogram (kg) weight category and reached the finals after defeating defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the Round of 16 and reigning Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba in the semifinals.

This put her in contention for the gold medal, with an assured silver medal. However, on the morning of the final match, she was overweight by 100 grams, leading to her disqualification and depriving her of any medal.

The political parties in Haryana soon jumped in to support Phogat, as the assembly election in the state is due in October this year, and Phogat hails from the Jat community, the most politically influential community in Haryana.

Jats comprise around 25 per cent of the electorate in the state, and their votes often get divided among various political parties. However, they are known to have voted for the Congress en masse in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, giving five of the 10 seats in the state to the party.

Thus, veteran Congress leader and former chief minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is all in the mood to continue capitalising on the party's Jat vote bank by raising the issue of Phogat.

While the incumbent Chief Minister Nayab Saini has announced that Phogat will be provided with all the facilities meant for an Olympic silver medallist, Hooda has demanded that she be felicitated as a gold medallist.

In addition, Hooda has even claimed that if the Congress had numbers in the assembly, he would have sent Phogat to the Rajya Sabha. Notably, by-elections for the vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Haryana will be held on 3 September, and no party has declared a candidate yet.

In response, Saini questioned Hooda about what the Congress did when Geeta Phogat and Babita Phogat (Vinesh's cousins) won medals and created records and why they were not appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

"Why did you deprive winning players of their rights? When you were in power, why you did not send them to the Rajya Sabha?" Saini said on X, quoting a video of veteran wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat, Vinesh's uncle.

"They appointed Geeta as inspector and Babita as sub-inspector. Then I went to court, and Geeta was appointed as DSP. Why Hooda sahab did not send them to Rajya Sabha?" Mahavir questioned.

Babita Phogat, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019, also criticised Hooda and said, "One can learn from Congress how to exploit a political opportunity out of an unfortunate incident (Vinesh's disqualification)."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has decided to contest all 90 assembly seats in Haryana, too jumped in as its state president, Dr Sushil Gupta, urged Vinesh to join AAP and contest the election and fight against "dictatorship."

Notably, AAP contested one Lok Sabha seat in Haryana under the INDI Alliance led by the Congress but could not win. Now it has ditched the alliance to contest all 90 seats on its own. In 2019, it contested 46 seats but could win none.

While all political parties are busy trying to leverage the case of Vinesh Phogat for their electoral advantage, as she was also the face of wrestlers' protests against then BJP member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, none have demanded anything for the other medallists from the state.

Neeraj Chopra won a silver medal in the javelin throw, and Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in shooting, of which one was in a team event with Sarabjot Singh, another player from Haryana.

The Indian hockey team, which also won a bronze medal, has three players from Haryana: defender Sanjay, midfielder Sumit, and forward player Abhishek.

The Haryana government will felicitate all of them as per the provisions. A prize of Rs 6 crore, Rs 4 crore, and Rs 2.5 crore are given to the gold, silver, and bronze medallists of the Olympics as per the Haryana government's policy.

Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh have already met Saini at the Chief Minister's residence, and the other players will also be welcomed when they return to India from Paris.

In the meantime, the decision to felicitate Vinesh as a silver medallist appears to be right, as she had reached the finals. However, her case should not overshadow the achievements of Neeraj Chopra, who actually won a silver.