‘Painful to see athletes being criticised for stir’

Kolkata: On a day Bengal CM and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee lent weight to the athletes’ protest, party MP Mahua Moitra also criticised Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P T Usha, who had said on Thursday that the protest was bad publicity for India’s image, and that the protesters should have approached the association first.
Moitra wondered what tarnished India’s image more: was it wrestlers protesting on the streets, or that a BJP MP, chairing the Wrestling Federation of India, had been accused of molestation and abuse of power, but against whom “Delhi police refuses to lodge an FIR, in spite of a SC order.”
TMC Youth Congress president Saayoni Ghosh said: “It’s painful to see our athletes being criticised for staging protest.BJP and its mouthpieces are hell-bent on showing the protesters in a bad light, and trying to safeguard the culprit. Only winning medals and trophies will not bring India honour. Supporting our athletes and addressing their issues certainly will.” tnn