Farmers enter wrestlers’ protest; BKU to bring thousands of women to Jantar Mantar on May 7

New Delhi: A day after the protesting wrestler Bajrang Punia called farmers to join the wrestlers’ protest demanding the arrest of WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), the largest farmer union of Punjab, Thursday announced that thousands of women will reach Jantar Mantar on May 7. 

Additionally, BKU women's cadre will also protest on May 11, 12, and 13 in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttarakhand.

Professional protesters such as Sudesh Goyat, who heckled former Olympian and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha at Jantar Mantar, are believed to have mobilised the women farmers.

Goyat mobilised women from rural Haryana to be a part of the farmers’ protest in 2021.

Also read: Wrestlers' protest hijacked: Sudesh Goyat, who heckled PT Usha, is a professional protestor

Earlier on Thursday, several farmer groups from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab joined the wrestlers' protest at Jantar Mantar and shouted "Jai Kisan Jai Jawan" and "Kisan Ekta Zindabad", pledging to not leave the site until justice is delivered to the wrestlers.

The grapplers, including Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, have demanded the arrest of Brij Bhushan Singh, a BJP lawmaker from UP, for sexual harassment of seven female wrestlers, one of them a minor. Singh has denied the charges and blamed Congress leader Deepender Hooda for hatching a "conspiracy" against him.