Ever since retired wrestler Vinesh Phogat joined the Congress party ahead of the upcoming elections in Haryana, where she is a candidate, she has been on a lying spree. Phogat has been inadvertently exposing her own lies.
Recently, Vinesh Phogat, who has since joined Congress and is a candidate from Julana assembly, claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called her after her disqualification from Paris Olympics, however, she refused to speak to him.
Vinesh Phogat
— Frontalforce 🇮🇳 (@FrontalForce) October 2, 2024
Odd Day- No BJP leader called
Even Day- PM Modi called, I rejected pic.twitter.com/OMPg3hmQDc
“The call had come (from PM) but I refused to speak. The call did not come directly to me but Indian officials who were there informed me that he (PM Modi) wanted to talk. I was ready. However, they put conditions – no one from my team would be present, while two people from their side would record the conversation for social media. I didn’t want my emotions and hard work to be made fun of on social media. “If he truly cared about athletes, he could have called without recording it, and I would have been grateful. Maybe he knows if I speak to Vinesh she will ask about the last two years. Maybe that’s why I was instructed that there will be no phone from my side because they can edit (video) from their end but I will not edit. I will post the original video. So they denied,” Phogat said.
Interestingly, Phogat’s statement came just days after she claimed that none of the BJP leaders had called her after her disqualification from the Paris Olympics earlier this year. “Not a single BJP leader called me. Nor did they message me. Didn’t they had my phone number, or did they not know me, they could have broken the narrative…” Phogat said.
On the one hand, Vinesh Phogat claims none of the BJP leaders called her, on the other hand, she claims PM Modi called her but she refused to talk. The last time we checked, Narendra Modi is still a BJP leader.
In an interview, Vinesh Phogat claimed that the government did not support her much and then suggested that the Modi government spent Rs 75 lakh on her training and other relevant expenses in the last 2-3 years. While insinuating that the government did not fully support her, the Congress leader ended up saying that whatever the government did was their duty and not a favour.
“I’d like to ask what facilities did they actually provide me? Who gave me a coach? The government didn’t even provide me with a coach. All of it came from private sponsors like Olympic Gold Quest. They provided the coach, the physio, and handled all the finances. The government is lying,” Phogat claimed.
She also launched a tirade against Indian Olympic Association chief PT Usha and alleged that she and other staff members came to visit only to click pictures and did not provide her any support. Phogat claimed to have been in a ‘semi-conscious’ state when her pictures with PT Usha were clicked at the hospital. However, it could be clearly seen in the image that the Vinesh Phogat was very much in a conscious state.
“I don’t know what support I got there. PT Usha madam visited me at the hospital. One photo was clicked… Like you said, in politics a lot happens behind closed doors. Similarly, politics happened there (in Paris) as well. That’s why I was heartbroken. Otherwise a lot of people are saying ‘don’t leave wrestling’. For what should I continue! There is politics everywhere,” Phogat claimed.
While Vinesh Phogat claimed she did not receive any real support from PT Usha and the government, it was documented how the IOA chief and the rest of the staff constantly assisted Phogat in going all out to reduce Phogat’s weight to take up the matter with Olympics authorities. The Modi government also immediately appointed top lawyer Harish Salve to take up her case.
In addition, Phogat was provided 40 days of training in Budapest, private coaching, and a dietician of her choice among other facilities. While it is true that the government does not do a favour to athletes by providing them with all the required assistance, however, it is highly disgraceful to discredit a government doing its duty, simply because Vinesh Phogat lost the medal due to her own failure to control weight or that she intended to join the Congress party.
Contrary to the claims made by Vinesh Phogat, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Mansukh Mandaviya had informed the Lok Sabha that Vinesh Phogat was provided with all requisite assistance and training for the Paris Olympics.
“The Indian government has provided all necessary assistance to Vinesh Phogat. Personal staff, including notable Hungarian coach Woller Akos and physio Ashwini Jiwan Patil, were assigned to her,” Mandaviya said.
Moreover, he highlighted the financial aid provided to Phogat, and said: “Financial assistance for other personal staff, including sparring partners and strength and conditioning experts, was provided. She received a total of Rs 70,45,775 in financial assistance for the Paris Olympics.”
Vinesh Phogat को भारत सरकार 70 लाख रुपये देगी pic.twitter.com/CsqcBMQe36
— Pooja Bishnoi (@poojabishnoi36) August 10, 2024
Notably, Minister Mandaviya’s revelation on assistance provided to Vinesh Phogat was shared as the opposition parties turned Phogat’s Olympic disqualification into a political issue. OpIndia reported earlier, how not only Congress leaders, but its supportive ecosystem on social media blamed PM Modi for Phogat’s disqualification. Even as Vinesh Phogat was disqualified on technical grounds, and the government had no role to play in this, the Congress-friendly ecosystem asserted that somehow PM Modi conspired to ensure Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification due to his ego since Phogat had participated in protests against a BJP leader and former president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
From “I don’t know politics” to “I was always politically aware”, Vinesh Phogat, the Congress leader
Among the many flip-flops Vinesh Phogat has made recently, the most hilarious remains the one wherein she first claimed to have zero knowledge of politics, and just days later joined Congress party to contest from Julana, in Haryana elections, only to reveal that she was always politically aware.
Vinesh Phogat is a perfect fit for Congress, as she seems to have the same IQ level as Rahul Gandhi. ☠️ pic.twitter.com/2m0DIsZvVI
— BALA (@erbmjha) October 2, 2024
Even after Vinesh’s empty-handed return from yet another Olympics due to Vinesh Phogat’s own failure to achieve the required 50kg weight, the BJP government in Haryana decided to felicitate Phogat like a silver medalist and offered her Rs 4 crore.
Although it is not new or shocking that political leaders heap praises on their party’ command’s orders, Vinesh Phogat went a step ahead and said that it was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who encouraged her to wrestle again. It is amusing that Phogat has suddenly accredited all her achievements to the Congress party and Priyanka Gandhi while portraying the BJP as the cause of all her miseries.
However, it was the Modi government that gave her the Arjuna Award in 2016 and Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2020. From training, staff, and financial support to awards and recognition, Vinesh Phogat received it all when BJP was at the helm of power in Centre, and in her home state Haryana, and yet she has the audacity to blatantly lie and disparage the Modi government for petty political gains.
Notably, Vinesh Phogat had requested, and was allowed to keep her private support team, including coach, physio, dietitian, and she was not under the supervision of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
Vinesh Phogat’s Olympics disqualification and the politics around it
Vinesh Phogat originally contested in the 53 kg category. However, during the time, she was off the mat for more than one-and-a-half years due to injuries and the protests against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Antim Panghal secured an Olympic quota for India in the 53kg category. Phogat then decided to switch to the lighter weight – 50 kg category – to ensure her place in the Olympics.
Despite it being against the rules, she was allowed to contest in qualifiers in both the 50 kg and 53 kg categories. She lost the qualifying match in the 53 kg category but won in 50kg. Therefore, she had to keep her weight in limit for the 50kg because she qualified for the 50 kg category in the Paris Olympics. However, she was struggling to maintain her weight below the allowed limit for several months.
Vinesh Phogat’s weight was around 2.7 kg higher than the limit a day before the finals, and despite various efforts, including cutting hair, shortening clothes, and sitting in the sauna, the weight could not be brought within Olympics requirements. Therefore, Vinesh Phogat was disqualified on technical grounds, and the govt had no role to play in this. However, Vinesh Phogat and the Congress party have made her Olympic disqualification as the core issue in Haryana elections.
