Gandhi’s appearance at the wrestling academy comes a day after Punia returned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Padma Shri. Punia, who was at the forefront of protests against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bharat Singh, returned the award to him.
On Wednesday morning, the fighters at one of the most iconic akhadas in Haryana were treated to an exhibition of Japanese jiu-yitsu. Rahul Gandhi was the surprise guest who opened the doors to the world-renowned combat sport.
Accompanying Congress leader Bajrang Rai, the leader of opposition in the Lower House of Parliament paid a surprise visit to Chhara academy, a secluded farming village in Uttar Pradesh, where the bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics began his career.
Gandhi trained with the fighters on the mat,” Dalal’s coach said, “learning some of the well-known moves such as the dhobi pachad and dhak, as well as jiu jitsu locks with Punia & Dalal, before joining them for lunch, which consisted of bajra roti and saag, with a glass of warm milk.”
Gandhi arrived at the wrestling academy a day after Punia returned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Padma Shri. Punia, who was at the forefront of protests against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and former President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Bhiraj Bhushan Singh, returned the Padma Shri after Sanjay Singh, a confidant of Singh, was elected President of WFI. The new committee was suspended by the government last Sunday.
Rahul Gandhi arrived at the same time as Bajrang Dalal, just after 6 o’clock in the morning. He saw our routine and asked Dalal to teach him some moves. Dalal said, “I showed him some simple rolls first, but he insisted that I should teach him something harder. So, we moved onto movies like Dhobi Pachaad and Dhak. He had a powerful grip.”
Both Dhobi pachad and dhak are well-known and popular moves in wrestling. The former involves the wrestler lifting the opponent’s shoulders and then slamming them to the mat. The latter involves the wrestler holding his opponent’s head in a headlock and then slamming him to the ground.
According to Dalal, Gandhi then went on to demonstrate some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques to Dalal and Punia. Dalal said, “Gandhi told us he was a yellow belt at that event and demonstrated some lock techniques.”
Two of India’s Olympic medal-winning boxers began their careers at the ‘lala diwan Chand’ or ‘virender akhara’ as it is commonly known in these parts.
Punia – who won the bronze medal in 65kg and is a multiple world championship medalist – started his training in Chhara, while another World Championship medalist, 86kg weightlifter Deepak Punia, spent his early years at the academy before shifting to Delhi’s Chhatrasal stadium.
Founded in 1995 by Dalal, the academy is situated in the heart of the agricultural region and caters to the best local talent.