Vinesh Phogat slams PT Usha of doing politics at Olympics
claims her photo in hospital was taken, shared without consent
Julana: In a shocking revelation, ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat has revealed that a photo of her in a hospital bed, taken with PT Usha, president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), after she was disqualified from the final gold medal bout at the Games, was all part of politics.
Phogat, who was hospitalised due to dehydration caused by extreme weight-cutting measures before the final, claimed that Usha visited her and took a photograph without her consent. According to Phogat, the image, shared widely on social media, was intended to give a false impression of support. “I don’t know what support I got there,” Phogat told a local news channel.
The 30-year-old further criticised the incident and added: “Like you said, in politics a lot happens behind closed doors. Similarly, politics happened there too and that’s why I was heartbroken. Numerous people are telling me not to give up on wrestling. But for what I should continue; there is politics everywhere!”
The prominent wrestling figure further told the local news channel that the photograph taken with Usha was just a political gesture rather than genuine support. She expressed that when she was in the hospital bed and possibly going through one of the worst phases of her life, the IOA chief came and clicked a photo and didn’t ask about anything else.
She asserted that the photo was clicked without her knowledge and further uploaded on social media to show everyone that she is standing with me. “That’s not how you show support,” Phogat exclaimed.
Vinesh Phogat fell short of making her Olympic dream come true as she failed a weigh-in ahead of her final match. Her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a joint silver medal was also dismissed.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
