'How have we come down to this?,' CK Vineeth posts powerful message on Wrestlers' Protest

The former player voiced his strong opinions on the ongoing Indian wrestlers vs WFI issue.

Former India international CK Vineeth has hit out at the brutality happening to the Indian Wrestlers amid their protest for the removal of the Indian Wrestling Federation’s head Brijbhushan Sharan Singh – who has been accused of harassing female athletes.

The wrestlers' protests, led by Olympic bronze medal winners Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, has been going on for over a month in the streets of Delhi but took a shocking turn on Sunday, 28 May.

With the wrestlers trying to relocate their protests towards the inauguration of the New Parliament Building in New Delhi, some of them were wrongfully violated by the police. Some wrestlers were pictured being beaten and dragged by the police, with several being detained for staging a peaceful protest.

What did Vineeth say about the wrestlers' protest?

This has really irked Vineeth, who took to Twitter to voice his utter dismay at how the decorated wrestlers of the nation are being treated. In a powerful series of tweets, he stated, “I watched on as a bystander for many days, thinking this will end. But this image has killed me inside. These are India’s daughters, who stood on podiums and waved our flag proudly, now being dragged on the floor with the same flag.

“Their accusation is against a man with a criminal background, and because he is an MP with the ruling party - a man of power - our solution is to forcefully silence their protests, hurt them and arrest those standing by their side, instead of taking action against the accused?

“How have we, as a nation, come down to this? Is this the India that was promised to us? Shame. On all of us.” Vineeth is the only Indian footballer to have made a public comment denouncing the latest case of police brutality towards the protesting wrestlers – who continue to seek justice amid all their troubles.

The 35-year-old knows all to well what it means to represent India at the international level, having donned the colors of the Indian national football team on multiple occasions. Indeed, Vineeth made seven international appearances for India from 2013-2017, but was unable to score a goal for his national team.

Vineeth enjoyed decent career at club level

The striker enjoyed a pretty solid career at the club level, enjoying a trophy-laden stint at Bengaluru FC. He won multiple I-League and Federation Cup titles with the Blues, scoring 21 goals in over 80 competitive appearances, which included a brilliant brace in the 2017 Federation Cup final to help Bengaluru FC defeat Mohun Bagan.

Vineeth has taken a backseat from professional footballers in recent years, but been quite proactive in giving back to the community since the Covid-19 pandemic – as he even used to work in a Covid-19 helpline centre and help with the distribution of oxygen in the height of the pandemic.