The importance of being Vinesh Phogat

The male-dominated universe of Haryana politics hasn’t seen anything quite like it. In a crowded hall filled with burly-looking Jat men, one woman is the center of attention. Olympic wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat is a celebrity who knows her star value. She has kept the large gathering waiting for a few hours in the autumn sun, but no one seems really too concerned.
From elderly men to excitable teenagers, everyone wants a slice of Haryana’s latest icon. Someone ties a traditional turban on her head, a village sarpanch wants to gift her with a silver mace, others queue up for a selfie. A short speech, a winning smile and a quick wave to the audience, Vinesh moves onto her next meeting. The transition from a wrestling mat to a political dangal has been swift and remarkably effective.
In the Paris Olympics, Vinesh stunned the world by defeating the reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki en route to the finals before being controversially disqualified for being marginally overweight. The wheat and mustard fields of Julana in Haryana’s Jind district are a long way away from the Parisian bright lights but the fight is no less demanding.
The Congress has not won the seat in 15 years; no woman, in fact, has contested from a mainstream party here until now. A dozen candidates across parties are in the fray in this Jat-dominated constituency. If she wins, Vinesh will script history as Julana’s first woman legislator.
For the Congress, Vinesh’s decision to plunge into the political battle has given them another talking point. In recent years, most celebrities have chosen to hitch their bandwagon on to the BJP. Stars twinkle brightest when they are on the winning side and for the past decade, the BJP has been a dominant force in Haryana and beyond.
The street protest last year by Olympic wrestlers against the BJP MP, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accusing him of sexual harassment, was a rare occasion when those in the arc lights chose to challenge the ruling establishment. Which might explain why Vinesh is today projected as an anti-establishment heroine, a defiant figure who symbolises the opposition battle against a seemingly authoritarian regime.
After 10 years in power, the BJP is facing an anti-incumbency breeze. But the winds of change need charismatic figures to represent popular sentiment. In 2024, the Congress party found their mascot in a 30-year-old Olympian wrestler.
Outside Haryana, Vinesh divides public opinion. The BJP’s social media army has routinely targeted her, questioning her commitment to the sport, accusing her of using the protests as a stepping stone to a political career. That she didn’t eventually win a medal has made the debate swirling around her even more fractious. Should she own up to her failure to stay within her stipulated weight category rather than pass the buck onto anyone else? Or was she a victim of circumstance, an athlete who deserves more empathy and less condemnation? In a strange way, her dramatic last minute exit out of the competition has made Vinesh’s life-story even more compelling.
A young girl from a remote village in Charkhi Dadri saw her father, an ordinary bus driver, being shot dead when she was not even in her teens. Her doughty mother raised her and her siblings with the singular aim of ensuring that they had a better life and more opportunities than she could have ever dreamed of. The village wrestling akhara became Vinesh’s passage to a new life, fueling hope and ambition backed by raw talent and hard work.
In a sport dominated by men, for a female pehelwan to succeed required a dismantling of centuries-old social chauvinism. Vinesh and an entire generation of Haryana’s wrestlers have done just that, putting the state firmly on the global sporting map.
A big ticket film like Dangal captured the dramatic rise of the Phogat family, creating a buzz around the sport. But politics can be far harsher than sport and celluloid. Which is why Vinesh’s career move goes beyond just the usual romantic rise from The Boondocks’s life story. In choosing a political career, not only has Vinesh jettisoned her lifelong dream of climbing an Olympic podium, but she has also fashioned a challenge to a political order soaked in patriarchy and prejudice.
In Haryana’s entrenched political hierarchies and family networks, men always come first. As indeed they do across the country, which might explain why, even today, we have only one sitting woman chief minister. But the biases against women rising up the political ladder are perhaps even more deeply rooted in Haryana, a state that has elected only 87 women MLAs since 1966.
Ask a Kumari Selja, former union minister and MP, who finds herself marginal to the Congress’s power equations despite her proximity to the party’s central leadership. Or the feisty Kiran Choudhary who has always been seen as Bansi Lal’s ‘bahu’ but never the heir apparent. Or indeed even the late Sushma Swaraj who could become a leading light of the BJP at the Centre but would have struggled to make it to the top in her home state. In their social status and political standing, Haryana’s women have been several steps behind the men and almost pushed into accepting their subordinate status as homemakers.
Which is why Vinesh Phogat’s bursting on the political stage offers a glimmer of hope that change is in the air. The Congress party may be riding on her popularity for now, but her folk hero imagery transcends the narrow confines of party politics. In recent years, Haryana’s pride has not been its political figures but its sporting icons. Look at the self-confidence with which Olympic double medallist shooter, Manu Bhaker, moves from one media engagement to the next, and it reflects just how a generational shift is slowly creeping through the traditional stereotypes. If Vinesh becomes the first woman MLA from Julana, it might inspire and encourage others to break barriers and set themselves up as role models for the future. Vinesh may not have won that elusive Olympic medal that she so yearned for, but she has already won a place in the hearts of Haryanvis. That affection is worth its weight in gold.
PS: In the wrestling academy in Balai, Vinesh’s home village, a young woman, Neha Sangwan, is furiously training at 5am, hoping to emulate Vinesh didi one day. “She will be our next Olympic champion,” her coach enthuses. The boys in the academy are awestruck by Neha’s skills. It is a sight to rejoice in, as is watching Vinesh being feted by the male sarpanches.
(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author. His new book: 2024: The Election That Surprised India will be out later this month)