From mat to maidan: Vinesh Phogat switches battlegrounds ahead of Haryana poll

A convoy of cars and tractors, with Congress flags billowing on the top, blaring campaign songs, races along the narrow road in Aasan village in Haryana’s Julana constituency. It threads through the verdant paddy fields. Polling is less than two weeks away and they have many stops to make.

Every now and then, wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat puts her head out of the sunroof of her SUV to wave at the onlookers. For women, she takes the extra step of getting down and greeting them. With folded hands she asks for their blessings. The sun is beating down and oppressive humidity is making everyone sluggish.

A lot has changed for Vinesh in less than two months. On August 6, minutes after her bout, the image of her in a red singlet, kneeling down on the wrestling mat at the Paris Olympics with hands folded in gratitude, flooded social media. A jubilant nation cheered for her. She was to be the first Indian woman grappler to enter the wrestling finals at the Olympic Games. But within hours of this triumph came the crushing news of her disqualification. She was 100 grams overweight. A stunned nation mourned for her. On August 8 she announced her retirement from wrestling, the sport which had defeated her not once, but on several occasions.

Not one to walk into the sunset quietly, she is back on the mat. This time the rules of the game have changed. As a Congress candidate in the upcoming Haryana polls, she has a tough contest on her hands. The Congress has not won the Julana Assembly constituency, her husband and fellow wrestler Somvir Rathee’s home, in the last three Assembly polls.

“The fun is always in doing what is difficult,” Vinesh says, on her way to a meeting at Aasan village. Beginnings, she says, are always difficult, whether it is politics or wrestling. “It gets easier as you get a hang of it,” she adds, her face flushed with the demands of campaigning. But she keeps her smile throughout the day. Her routine as an athlete, of training and maintaining a strict diet, is lost in the hectic electioneering. She has swapped her sporting clothes for a kurta-pyjama.

On the road

The convoy enters Aasan village where she is welcomed by an eager crowd with a shower of flowers. On the cement stage at the centre of the village, she is the only woman. Other women watch her from the margins. Most of them are veiled.

Wrestler-turned-politician and Congress candidate from Julana Assembly constituency Vinesh Phogat being welcomed by women during her election campaign at Assan Village in Jind district of Haryana.
| Photo Credit:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

She pitches herself as the “bahu and beti” (daughter and daughter-in-law) of Julana. On her messy mop of hair, hastily cropped at the Olympics to drop a few grams of weight, the villagers place a pagdi (turban) signifying power and respect. Speakers ahead of her extoll her struggles both in the sporting arena and outside of it. One of them introduces her as the next Sports Minister of Haryana.

With the practised ease of a politician, she puts a towel on the microphone, to ensure that her voice is clearer. She speaks in an even tone in Haryanavi. She begins by listing out the failures of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) government that has been ruling the State since 2014. She rushes through the script: a litany of unkept promises, high unemployment rate, poor healthcare facilities, and a power crisis. From delayed results of competitive exams to the bad condition of schools and colleges, she reminds people how one ‘wrong’ decision had ruined the lives of an entire generation of youth.

Using the Congress’ symbol as a metaphor, Vinesh asks people to vote for the ‘hand’ to get their lost dignity back. “One vote of yours to the hand will act as a tight slap on their [the BJP’s] faces. This slap will hit hard in Delhi on October 5,” she says. She has been addressing eight to 10 meetings a day.

She briefly touches upon her Olympic loss and her battle against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, the five-time former MP from the BJP and former chief of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), who is accused of sexually harassing many young female wrestlers. “They [BJP] have not left anyone, be it kisan, jawan, or pehelwan (farmer, soldier, or wrestler),” she says. She doesn’t go into the details. Her Paris debacle was well publicised and it is assumed that her audience knows what she had to go through.

Vinesh’s fight against Brij Bhushan started in January 2023. After months of protest on the streets of Delhi, India’s national capital, the Supreme Court ordered for an FIR against the former BJP MP. Her fight for justice continues.

“During the crucial time that she should have been practising for the Olympics, Vinesh was fighting the police’s cane at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. What she had gone through cannot be described in words. We will ensure that our daughter gets justice,” says Usha Devi, 55, who walked a mile to sing a song she wrote for Vinesh. In a nasal voice Devi and her choir sing, ‘Sare jag me naam kamai hai… meri beti Phogat aai hai (She has made a name for herself in the world; my daughter Phogat has arrived).” The accompanying singers wear colourful dupattas tightly wound around their heads; only their eyes are exposed.

Bhupendra Deshwal, a Panchayat member assures Vinesh that Julana will avenge her and bring back the dignity of Haryana’s daughter.

The unending battle

Born in Balali village of Charkhi Dadri district, Haryana, Vinesh’s father was murdered when she was nine. She was brought up by her extended family alongside her cousins, Geeta and Babita Phogat, daughters of her father’s brother Mahavir Singh Phogat. Wrestling was an essential part of childhood. She has been training since she was six years old. The Phogat family, especially her uncle Mahavir, broke the convention of women staying at home in a deeply patriarchal State.

Mahavir’s life has been canonised in the Hindi film Dangal. Her uncle stood by her when she and other fellow wrestlers raised allegations against ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan. In solidarity, he announced that he would return his Dronacharya award, given to coaches by the Indian government. Geeta too had extended support to her sister. Mahavir cheered her on when she qualified for the finals at the Paris Olympics. But she hasn’t got his endorsement for entering politics, especially the Congress. Mahavir and his second daughter Babita had joined BJP in 2019. Babita never supported the wrestlers’ protest.

For now though, Vinesh is focusing on more immediate problems on her hands. Paradropped into politics just days before polling, she has many miles to travel, meet, and greet political influencers and navigate the tricky caste terrain of the constituency.

Vinesh Phogat addressing a public meeting in Chabri village in Haryana’s Jind.
| Photo Credit:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

She has multiple opponents to worry about. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has fielded Surendra Lather, formerly with the BJP, from this seat. He switched to INLD only after he was denied a ticket by the BJP, which was keen to field a non-Jat candidate here. The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) had fielded the sitting MLA Amarjeet Dhanda. His party’s intransigence on farm laws and delay in leaving BJP has put them on a weak wicket, though Dhanda is banking on his own followers to see him through.

Along with Vinesh, all the other candidates are Jats, traditionally a farming community. Breaking this trend, the BJP has fielded Captain Yogesh Bairagi, an OBC. Numerically, Jats are the single largest bloc with some estimates pegging their strength at 42% of the total voters. But the disparate group of OBCs, including Bairagis, Khati, Kumhars, Nai, Rohilas, Saini, Yadavs follow close behind. “We have four Jats in the fray, including from the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, INLD and JJP. The BJP had fielded an OBC which might be an advantage, as the Jat votes will be divided,” says Satpal Panchal from Lajwana Kalan village. He himself is a BJP supporter.

AAP’s Kavita Dalal, a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) player who has branded herself Julana’s “Lady Khali” is also in the fray. AAP’s rank and file is split down the middle on who they will support. Virendra Arya, vice president of AAP’s farmer wing in Julana says that the party workers had conveyed to the leadership not to field any candidate against Vinesh. He himself is campaigning for her. All her opponents are careful not to indulge in any personal attacks on her. BJP candidate Bairagi refers to her as “sister” in her election speeches.

Home but not dry

In Baktha Kherda, her husband Somvir’s village, Vinesh has been an infrequent visitor since the two were married in 2018. Now, she is camping here, reacquainting herself with many members of the extended Rathee family.

“She had built a big kothi (independent house) in Kharkhoda and used to live there,” says Wazeer Rathi, a distant relative of her in-laws. Sensing that he might have said something wrong, he adds that she had taken the decision to move to Kharkhoda as the place had better facilities for wrestling practice.

A cousin, Avinash Rathee, chips in, “When she retires, I am sure she will come to live with us.” Avinash explains why Vinesh prefers to be called Phogat rather than Rathee at her rallies. “She is known because of the Phogat surname. Everyone knows the Phogats and their passion for wrestling,” he says, pointing towards a poster in the village proclaiming Vinesh Phogat Rathee.

A poster advertising Vinesh Phogat in Bakhta Khera village in Haryana’s Jind.
| Photo Credit:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Conversations on elections veer towards Vinesh and Somvir’s wedding reception in 2018. Bombastic estimates of the number of guests who turned up are made. Each household from Baktha Kherda and those from around 50 villages were invited for the function, one proclaims.

That is not how everyone remembers the event. Around 300 metres away from Somvir’s house lives Rani. She was neither invited for the reception nor has she ever met her. “I am a Dalit and poor. You think anyone will invite me to their house?” she says.

After the Jats, the Schedule Castes comprise the second highest vote share, at 21% in Julana. She is also fighting the tag of “outsider”. To counter it, in her interviews and speeches, she repeats, “I am here to stay.” At an election meeting in Kharak Ramji village, Vinesh assures the gathering,“I am not here to make money. I had a great city life and money as well and I left it all just to work for you.”

The Congress fielded Vinesh, a greenhorn, in the hope to enthuse women and young voters. While Vinesh’s election meetings are drawing women voters, she may not be their natural choice. Nirmala, 65, from Radhana village where Vinesh held a rally on September 18, says that she has never seen her in person or on the television.

The sexagenarian keeps her face covered with a dupatta, as there are several men around, and to reveal her face to them would be considered an insult to her husband. She is unsure whether she will vote for Vinesh. “I will vote wherever my husband asks me to. Every woman should do that. We cannot do anything against the wishes of our husband. They are the breadwinners who run the family,” Nirmala says.

Vinesh interacts with the public in Chabri village in Haryana’s Jind.
| Photo Credit:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Her candidature has generated some interest among the young. Rohit Banwala, 19, who has been cheering Vinesh on, says he will vote for the first time on October 4 in favour of the grappler-turned-politician. He has taken up wrestling himself, inspired by the Phogat sisters.

The next fortnight will decide the course of Vinesh’s future. She is confident that she will stick around, irrespective of the October 5 outcome. “Politics is everywhere. I have a long way to go and a longer battle to fight,” she says.