In the past week, we’ve witnessed shocking scenes from the protest held by India’s top wrestlers against alleged sexual harassment by Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
On May 28, the Delhi police forcibly cleared their protest site at Jantar Mantar when the protesters tried to march to the new Parliament building. Wrestlers like Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Sangeeta Phogat were dragged when the police bundled the protesters into buses.
On May 30, the athletes headed to Haridwar where they planned to immerse their medals as part of their protest. They cried on the banks of the Ganga, surrounded by supporters. They later deferred this plan, giving the government five days to take action.
Subsequently, the details of the two FIRs filed against Singh came under spotlight. In at least two instances mentioned in the FIR, he demanded “sexual favours”, while 15 instances of sexual harassment were also mentioned. Both the FIRs have been lodged under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking) and 34 (common intention). One of the FIRs also invokes Section 10 of the POCSO Act, reports said.
Simultaneously, drama unfolded on Twitter – but this time in favour of police action against the wrestlers. Over the last few days, the usual right-wing suspects have condemned the wrestlers, suggesting they’re fabricating their allegations against Singh.
Those tweeting have sizable followings, and their tweets gained plenty of traction too. The usual phrases were thrown in too – “toolkit gang”, “tukde-tukde gang”, “urban naxals”. Many of these users have been previously flagged for misinformation and disinformation, but when has that ever stopped someone on social media?
Here’s a run-down of some of these tweets, though this list is far from exhaustive.
Journalist Abhiit Majumder, who has over 581,000 followers, tweeted a video from May 28 saying “champions once, toolkit gang forever”.
Well done, Delhi police.
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) May 28, 2023
The frauds should have been treated this way long ago.
Each of their accusations were found to be dubious by the probe panel.
They refused to file an FIR for long.
Even after SC taking it up, they want to do this drama to secure their political future.… pic.twitter.com/f8QgOnwjxn
He also shared a picture of Vinesh and Sangeeta Phogat purportedly smiling in the police bus. The picture is fake – it was morphed to show them smiling when the original does not.
Ajeet Bharti, former editor of blog OpIndia who most recently issued threats against Alt News cofounder Muhammad Zubair, thanked the police for their work. With over 163,000 followers, he got over 3,700 retweets and over 15,000 likes.
अरे! कल तक तो गर्दन काटने की बातें कर रहे थे! बहुत-बहुत आभार @DelhiPolice जो इन उपद्रवी पहलवानों को संसद की सीमा से दूर रखा। https://t.co/HyjGZEMGaa
— Ajeet Bharti (@ajeetbharti) May 28, 2023
He also asked the wrestlers to file an affidavit promising they wouldn’t contest in upcoming elections.
Then there was Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, who once helped Arnab Goswami resurrect an old – and untrue – conspiracy theory about George Soros being a Nazi.
Nice editing & stage managing. How much did the package cost? Btw why haven’t you thrown it yet? Delhi to Haridwar is 4 hours by car - you’ve been crying for 24 hours - it doesn’t take that long to get to the Ganga. Pad yatra pe Ganga ja rahe ho kya? pic.twitter.com/UJY1Vc6ASH
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) May 30, 2023
Actual interview of celebrity wrestler (CW) with the investigation committee (IC):
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) May 30, 2023
CW “he fondled my breasts in public at a restaurant”
IC “that is very serious, where & when was this”
CW “I don’t remember when, it was in Turkey though”
IC “he’s never been to Turkey - his…
Arun Pudur, a self-described tech billionaire, alleged “Congress direct involvement” in the protest. Pudur has over 98,000 followers.
Thanks for confirming CONgress direct involvement in this fake Wrestlers Protest.
— Arun Pudur (@arunpudur) May 30, 2023
What next JJP withdrawing support for BJP for snap polls or alliance with CONgress as you can't fund or handle this fake protest for 17 months until Haryana Elections?
Karnataka was a fraud… https://t.co/4GD9QCPAKg
BJP member Priti Gandhi, who has over 515,000 followers, said the Indian government had spent crores on training the wrestlers and they were acting like “spoilt brats”. Over 2,500 retweets here.
Bajrang Punia has announced that the protesting wrestlers will dispose their medals in the Ganga.
— Priti Gandhi - प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) May 30, 2023
What he has conveniently not mentioned is that the Govt of India has spent more than ₹150 crore on training these wrestlers, ₹2.58 crore on him and ₹2.16 crores on Vinesh Phogat… https://t.co/1dpANFkNTX pic.twitter.com/5gCejcvzpA
Conspiracy theorist Hawk Eye, which was part of the online campaign to jail Zubair, said the wrestlers “have done for photoshop so ppl can post such propaganda”. The user has 167,000 followers and paid for a blue tick.
It was clear when they announced their protest at parliament which is turned fortress for security reasons. Wrestlers have done for photoshop so ppl can post such propaganda. They are loosing it day by day. Huge loss of entire sport and 100s of other aspirants! pic.twitter.com/dDBd1RrGRB
— The Hawk Eye (@thehawkeyex) May 28, 2023
BJP member Shivam Tyagi brought up those old right-wing bugbears of “tukde-tukde gang” and “urban naxals”.
साक्षी मलिक कह रही हैं कि दिल्ली पुलिस को यौन शोषण करने वाले बृजभूषण के खिलाफ FIR दर्ज करने में 7 दिन लगे और शांतिपूर्ण आंदोलन करने पर हमारे खिलाफ 7 घंटे में FIR हो गयी।
— Shivam Tyagi (@ShivamSanghi12) May 29, 2023
साक्षी मालिक भूल गयी कि दो दिन पहले उनके आंदोलन से लोगों के सर काटने की धमकी दी गयी। गुरनाम सिंह चढूनी ने…
बजरंग पुनिया, साक्षी मलिक और विनेश फोगाट अपने मेडल गंगा जी में बहा रहे हैं।
— Shivam Tyagi (@ShivamSanghi12) May 30, 2023
इनका खेलों में भविष्य समाप्त हो चुका है तो मेडल का तो कोई काम नहीं ?
अब तो बस धंधा चल रहा है जो इन तीनों ने अपनी bio में भी लिख रखा है … ?! pic.twitter.com/othnRzXxcY
Everyone’s favourite Bollywood pundit Ashoke Pandit produced a new hashtag – #AwardWapsiGang – and brought up “urban naxals” too. It got a little over 1,000 retweets.
The #AwardWapsigang in a new avtar at Haridwar backed by the #UrbanNaxals.
— Ashoke Pandit (@ashokepandit) May 30, 2023
Total drama .
Will return with their medals in their pockets .
The sleeper cell is fully active .
The medals belong to the country and not them .
Crores of tax payers money is spent on them .
Nobody… pic.twitter.com/gFvWC9O4Ti
Journalist Aman Chopra – whom the Rajasthan police was searching for last year – had several tweets on the protest.
मेडल अकेले किसी एक खिलाड़ी के नहीं देश के होते हैं।
— Aman Chopra (@AmanChopra_) May 30, 2023
वैसे तो कुश्ती में गोल पोस्ट नहीं होता लेकिन पहलवानों ने 18 जनवरी से 30 मई तक गोल पोस्ट बदल बदलकर एक गंभीर मुद्दे को फुटबॉल बना दिया। pic.twitter.com/sil3HKecYg
मेडल विसर्जन होना भी था या सब कुछ scripted था जिसके climax में टिकैत जी की sudden एंट्री ने अब suspense को और बढ़ा दिया है। pic.twitter.com/wTq8M2PT38
— Aman Chopra (@AmanChopra_) May 30, 2023
A handle with over 84,000 followers accused the wrestlers of platforming “anti-India elements” and trying to “defame India”.
Sports Ministry constituted a committee led by PT Usha, included all the names wrestlers recommended.
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) May 30, 2023
They thought the committee would directly hold Brijbhushan Singh guilty but they asked for proof & then start the main game.
They don't want to give any proof, all they want is…
Former IAS officer Sanjay Dixit, who runs a dubious portal called Jaipur Dialogues, produced an entire video on the wrestlers’ “conspiracy”. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers.
And finally, former IPS officer NC Asthana, who suggested the wrestlers be shot.
These tweets are only the tip of the iceberg, but they’re a sad commentary on the state of discourse on social media.
But this isn’t the first time we’ve seen such campaigns, and it won’t be the last. From January to April, the Chief Justice of India was the subject of an online trolling campaign that involved over 7,50,000 tweets. Read about it here.
Update at 8:04 pm, June 2: This report has been updated with the details of the FIRs lodged against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
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