We live in times when a simple look at a woman can be labeled stalking. One can end up in jail for no reason at all. Activists, actors and many of their ilk raise slogans of misogyny, malevolence, and mansplaining on social media. Simply saying, in India feminism is rising through the roof just on social media. It was apparent after no such big voice came for the worried wrestling athletes of India. Wrestlers trotted together en masse to Delhi to conduct a sit-in protest against the wrestling federation of India and the staff associated. The athletes accuse the staff of sexually assaulting female athletes. The dharna was mainly to beseech the government to oust Brij Bhusan Singh, WFI president who is also accused by the female athletes of unsolicited sexual advancement. It has been three days since the dharma started and starkly enough the government maintained an eerie silence.

Delhi is home to dharnas. Politicians, activists, and farmers ram into the power circles of the capital to raise their voices. But wrestling stars of India stomping these pathways of capital in protest looks sufficiently strange. These are elite-grade professionals with Olympic medals on their shelves. The government kept a blind eye while the social media feminists were busy typing some 180 words post on Instagram.

Wrestling icon and commonwealth games gold medalist Vinesh Phogat claimed she knows more than 10 girls who were assaulted sexually by staffs and WFI president Brij Bhusan Singh. Immediately after the Tokyo Olympics, Vinesh revealed these horrid tales to PM Narendra Modi. What came was not any proper punitive action from the government but death threats for the famed wrestling star of India.

As of now, the issue has garnered big space in the media. Vinesh Phogat has repeatedly stated that the dharna won’t end until Brij Singh is thrown out of the WFI president's post. Considering the burgeoning media pressure and an impending election, the government has ushered up to take action in favour of the wrestlers. A special committee has been formed which will investigate the matter in deep. The wrestlers have admitted to the repeated threats they receive from acquaintances of Brij Singh. Many among the wrestling fraternity are hesitant to come up with complaints since they come from a very vulnerable background, not equal in any way to fight the big powers in government.

Meanwhile, some politicians opposing BJP sniggled into the dharna hoping to get some limelight but were thwarted initially by the wrestlers who gently asked the politicians to leave. The fight was something to uphold their modesty but not for any political brownies. If it was for any cricket player, the media would have erupted in support. But these are wrestlers, the little-known ones. Just remember that these athletes have dedicated a life to wrestling, not just to thrive filling coffers but to represent their mother nation in the international arena. The eerie silence from the media and government is a bane.