Wrestlers' protest: Rakesh Tikait hits out at Modi govt, demands resignation of WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh 

Amid the wrestlers' protest, farmer leader and national spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said that the incumbent government needs to be grounded and also demanded the arrest of WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh. 

"Has the Delhi Police not arrested anyone in similar instances in the past? If not, don’t arrest him. Else take action. Wrestlers have asked us to extend similar support, and volunteer deployment for peaceful agitation," he told AajTak. "Desh ka maan badhane walon ko begana mehsoos karaya jaa raha (the ones who did the nation proud are left to feel neglected today)."

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday announced a nationwide agitation in support of the wrestlers who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The SKM said several senior leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and western Uttar Pradesh would visit Jantar Mantar on Sunday with hundreds of farmers. It demanded the immediate arrest of Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by some of the women wrestlers.

Delhi Police stepped up security arrangements at Jantar Mantar, where wrestlers are staging a sit-in, and in border areas of the city as hundreds of farmers are expected to visit the protest site on Sunday to extend support to the grapplers.

Vehicles entering Delhi were being checked and pickets were increased at Delhi-Ghazipur, Tikri, and Singhu borders.

Jantar Mantar has elaborate security systems in place. The security officers have been deployed and activities at the protest location are being watched around the clock via CCTV to ensure that no adverse incidents occur, PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.

"We have taken adequate security measures to ensure that the protest at Jantar Mantar remains peaceful. CCTV surveillance is being done and we have deployed an adequate number of security personnel there. Those visiting the protest site are being checked thoroughly as part of precautionary measures," he said.

Multiple layers of barricades have also been put in place at the protest site as well as at the border areas of Delhi. "We have intensified our patrolling in the border areas of Delhi, be it Ghazipur, Singhu or Tikri. We have also enhanced the number of pickets and are carrying out intensive checking of vehicles," the official told the news agency.

On Thursday, a group of farmers coming to Delhi to visit Jantar Mantar was stopped by the police at the Singhu border, with officials saying 24 of them had been detained. The wrestlers have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23. On April 28, Delhi Police registered two FIRs against Singh on the basis of complaints filed by seven women wrestlers, including a minor.

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