Vinesh Phogat takes early lead against Yogesh Bairagi in Haryana’s Julana

The year 2024 has been quite eventful for Vinesh Phogat. From missing out on a chance to compete in the Olympics final for the medal medal, to entering the political arena – Vinesh has witnessed it all. She is contesting the assembly elections in Haryana from Julana in the Jind district. According to early trends, the wrestler is leading against BJP’s Yogesh Bajrangi.
Vinesh Phogat, who was born in Charkhi Dadri, joined the Congress after returning from the Olympic Games where she was disqualified from the women’s 50-kilogram freestyle wrestling final for being 100 grams overweight.
She had defeated four-time wrestling world champion Yui Susaki of Japan on her way to the final.
She is not the first woman wrestler from the state to join politics and contest elections. Her cousin Babita Phogat had unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls in 2019 from Charkhi Dadri.
Vinesh Phogat’s opponent in the assembly polls is Yogesh Bairagi, a former Indian Army captain and commercial pilot, contesting on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket.
The 35-year-old has several feathers in his cap, the key among them being his involvement in the mission to bring back Indians who were stuck abroad during the Covid pandemic. He also played a key role during the relief and rescue operations after the Chennai floods.
Yogesh Bairagi is currently the president of BJP’s Haryana youth wing and is expected to give Vinesh a run for her money.
Several women wrestlers in Haryana, especially those rethinking their career paths in the wake of protests against sexual harassment in the WFI, are hoping Vinesh Phogat becomes the state’s sports minister and helps them return to the akhada.
Wrestling arenas or akhada were once abuzz with activity as young girls and boys trained with a common goal — medals at big events followed by government jobs.
However, things changed after the January 2023 protests by top wrestlers, including Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia, demanding the resignation of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and then BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for allegedly harassing junior women wrestlers.
The akhada has since witnessed a spurt in dropouts among young women grapplers.
Vinesh Phogat and Yogesh Bairagi faced off in the Haryana assembly elections on October 5. Results of Julana, and 89 other constituencies will be declared on October 8.
Part of Jind district, Julana is known as the heart of Haryana and serves as the administrative headquarters of Julana Tehsil.
The Julana seat was won by Amarjeet Dhanda of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) with 61,942 votes in the 2019 Assembly Elections. The constituency is a general seat and not reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward castes (OBCs).
Julana had a total population of 15,561, with males constituting 53% and females 47%, as per the 2001 census.