Wrestling tournament lifts spirit among farmers at protest sight in Delhi

To keep the spirits running high, protesting farmers in Delhi organised a mega wrestling event on Sunday at UP Gate. Named as Kisan Kesari Dangal, the wrestling event saw about 70 young wrestlers from different states, both men and women, participating in 30 freestyle wrestling bouts at the Delhi Meerut Expressway.

More than 15,000 have joined protest since November 28 at UP Gate and the gathering has now swelled to an estimated 10,000-15,000 people.

The wrestlers had come from different states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi.

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“It was a first of a kind experience to hold such an event on an expressway. I retired from the Border Security Force in July and came here with my wrestler friends to support the farmers. We decided that we should hold such an event here and took permission from the farmers’ committee here. They welcomed the move and made arrangements,” said Padam Singh Rathi, who is an athlete and came from Meerut.

The young grapplers were given three-minute bouts and the winners were given medals. However, the big ticket was a heavyweight bout between Uttar Pradesh Kesari Sandip Koswal and Bharat Kesari Sanjiv Joon.

The slogans of “Sada haq, itthe rakh’ and ‘Kisan ekta zindabad’preceded every bout.

The farmers’ leaders said that the wrestling event was held to encourage youngsters and also to maintain an active atmosphere at the protest site.

The farmers in the past week had been battling adverse conditions such as rain and winter chill but the events on Sunday under a bright morning sun brought a smile to their faces.

Meanwhile, a group of bikers also came to the UP Gate site to support and express solidarity with the farmers. The motorcyclists said that they came from different parts south and east Delhi. A majority of them were riding Royal Enfield motorcycles.

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