Wrestlers' protest hijacked: Sudesh Goyat, who heckled PT Usha, is a professional protester

New Delhi: The lady who heckled former Olympion and IOC president PT Usha at the protest site is nowhere close to the profession of wrestling. Instead, she is a professional protester highjacking the protests against the Narendra Modi government.

Social media is flooded with memes exposing the professional protester for heckling the former Olympian.

Who is the lady who heckled PT Usha?

The lady is identified as Sudesh Goyat, an Indian Army veteran’s wife, who shot to fame during OROP protests nationwide.

Then she was found actively participating in farmers’ protests.

Later on, Goyat was also seen participating in protests against the Agnipath recruitment scheme launched by the central government.

A section of the media called Goyat, a farmer’s daughter from the Sisar village in Haryana’s Hisar, the ‘Iron Lady’ of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) protests at Jantar Mantar, during which she was on a relay hunger strike for close to two years and had sought to raise issues related to war widows.

Several wrestlers who have won awards at international competitions have been protesting at Jantar Mantar, demanding that the government make public the findings of an oversight panel that investigated the sexual harassment charges against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The Delhi Police has filed two FIRs against Singh on allegations of sexual harassment levelled against the BJP MP by seven women wrestlers.

The wrestlers have asserted that they would not leave the protest site until Singh is arrested.

Modus operandi

Like any other protest, the wrestlers’ protest first began in January impersonating an apolitical protest.

Sports Minister Anurag Thakur spent 12 hours with them -- seven hours on the first day and five hours the next day (in January).

The minister listened to all their grievances, held a press conference at 2-2.30 at night, and formed a committee after talking to them.

The wrestlers called off their protest after the government accepted their demand to add a member from the protesters’ side.

Thakur said last week that the protesting wrestlers gave Babita Phogat's name, and the government added her to the committee.

"Whoever wanted to present their version before the oversight committee, was given a chance to do so, there were no restrictions. We even increased the timeline of the probe, there were 14 meetings. Whoever wanted to come, came. We gave a chance to every athlete to present their case," Thakur told the media.

The grapplers resumed their protest at Jantar Mantar, demanding that an FIR be registered and a thorough probe be conducted by police against Sharan, a BJP MP from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh.

After the matter reached Supreme Court, Delhi Police registered two FIRs on April 28 against the WFI chief. But by then, the protests were hijacked by the political opponents of the Modi government on protesting wrestlers’ call.

All the opposition parties and their leaders extended support to the protesters only to verify the claims of the WFI chief that the protest is entirely political.

Professional protesters such as Goyat are said to be the mastermind behind the revived protest.

As a result, the protesting wrestlers extended their demand from the registration of FIR to the arrest of the WFI president.

Then came the heckling of the former Olympian PT Usha by professional protester Goyat.

The entry of Aam Aadmi Party MLA and sacked Delhi minister Somnath Bharti triggering the altercation between protesters and Delhi Police presented ample proof of the ulterior motive behind the protest.

After the altercation, leading protesting wrestler Bajrang Punia called farmers to the protest site. However, Goyat, who was one of the organizers of the farmers' protest, remained behind the camera.

While Delhi Police is busy blocking roads leading to Central Delhi anticipating farmers’ protest-like situation, people are questioning the timing of the extended protest which clashes with the foreign dignitaries attending the SCO summit and leaves a wrong impression of the country on the global platform.

The CAA protests and 2020 Delhi riots during former US president Donald Trump’s visit refreshed people’s memory.