IOA urges athletes to treat awards issue and farmers’ issue as separate ones

IOA urges athletes to treat awards issue and farmers’ issue as separate ones

Vijender Singh protesting with farmers

The Indian Olympics Association (IOA) asked sportspersons taking part in the protest against agriculture laws to believe in the government to resolve their issues urging them to treat the awards they’ve received from the government and the protest against agriculture laws as separate issues.

Recently, there have been a plethora of protests from sportspersons especially from Punjab and Haryana and most notably boxer Vijender Singh who have threatened to return the awards that have been given to them by the government. There will be talks on Tuesday as reported by The Hindu between farmer leaders and the government.

‘Every Indian loves and supports farmers’

Vijender Singh has been at the forefront of protests

IOA President Nardinder Batra and Secretary General Rajeev Mehta put together a joint statement today about the issue of protests. “Of late sportspersons are seen to be announcing return of their National Awards as a mark of their support for the recent farmers issue. National Awards and farmers issue are two separate things. Every Indian, including us, loves and supports the farmers and we all would always like our farming community to be happy as they are the ‘Annadatas’ of our country,” they said.

FS Video

“The government and the farmer leaders are in talks and we all are hoping for an early resolution & solution. Till such time let us have trust in our government and the farmers leaders who are in dialogue,” the duo added.

The protestors have meanwhile, called for a ‘Bandh’ on Tuesday supported by a few political parties.

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