New Delhi: “Baahubali (strongman)”, “pehelwanjee”, “native don” and “man with enormous political energy and goodwill” in components of Uttar Pradesh — is how Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) leaders describe occasion MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, 66, who stands accused of sexual harassment by India’s prime wrestlers.
Whereas a gaggle of wrestlers are at present sitting on an indefinite protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi demanding Singh’s arrest, the BJP-led Modi authorities on the Centre is in a quandary over what to do with him, occasion leaders admitted to ThePrint.
A six-time Lok Sabha MP from Gonda, Kaiserganj and Balrampur constituencies in UP — he at present represents Kaiserganj within the Lok Sabha — Singh is believed to carry sway in 5 Lok Sabha constituencies of the state and is alleged to be indispensable to the BJP forward of the 2024 normal elections.
BJP leaders ThePrint spoke to cited Singh’s clout, muscle energy, a series of instructional institutes in UP and hyperlinks to BJP’s ideological dad or mum, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), as weighing in his favour.
However, are the fees towards him by World Championships medal winner Vinesh Phogat and Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, who’ve branded him a “predator” and accused him of aiding “sexual assault” of feminine wrestlers.
A neighborhood BJP chief from UP’s Gonda instructed ThePrint: “Pehelwanjee dictates politics and ticket distribution within the 5 Lok Sabha constituencies of Gonda, Bahraich, Domariyaganj, Kaiserganj and Shravasti. He doesn’t want anybody to win elections, each occasion is able to give him a ticket and it’s Brij Bhushan who obliges them.”
The BJP at present holds 4 of those 5 seats, whereas Shravasti is with the Bahujan Samaj Occasion (BSP).
Regardless of the chief’s clout, some within the occasion worry the controversy surrounding him may act towards the occasion’s pursuits.
Chatting with ThePrint, a second senior BJP chief from Delhi mentioned “time is operating out for the occasion to take motion towards Singh” and the “protesting wrestlers can harm the political narrative of our authorities in election time”.
The chief added: “Regardless of Singh’s political energy, the narrative isn’t going within the BJP’s favour. On the one hand we are saying ‘beti bachao’ and ‘beti padho’, and on the opposite are these fees. What message will we ship to the youth if motion isn’t taken?”
ThePrint reached UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi on cellphone for touch upon the protest towards Singh, however he declined remark.
Singh, who was additionally a part of the Samajwadi Occasion (SP) for some time, denied the harassment fees once they have been first levelled in January this yr, terming them politically motivated and accusing the protestors of being Congress pawns. He has since appeared defiant within the face of additional allegations.
On Thursday, he put out a video message on social media stating: “Buddies, the day I mirror on my life, what I gained or misplaced, the day I really feel I don’t have the energy to battle, the day I really feel helpless, I gained’t prefer to reside a life like that. As a substitute of dwelling such a life, I would want that dying embraced me.”
Additionally learn: ‘Delayed probe, non-disclosure of findings, no FIR towards Brij Bhushan’ — why wrestlers are protesting once more
‘That day I may be hanged’
Wrestlers had first gone on protest towards Singh in January, demanding his removing as WFI president.
The protest ended solely when the Sports activities Authority of India (SAI), and Indian Olympic Affiliation (IOA) stepped in to look into the allegations raised towards Singh. The sports activities ministry constituted an oversight committee (OC) chaired by Olympian Mary Kom to probe the matter and in addition handle the day-to-day functioning of the WFI. Singh was requested to “step apart” from the publish he had held since 2011.
Sources had earlier instructed ThePrint that committee submitted its report this month, but it surely has not been made public but.
That is what prompted the second, ongoing protest. Based on media stories, the athletes have alleged that they tried calling sports activities minister Anurag Thakur and members of the OC, however obtained no response.
The wrestlers are actually demanding an FIR towards Singh.
The Supreme Courtroom Friday took up a petition filed by the wrestlers, searching for a course to the police to take motion on their grievance towards him. Showing for the Delhi Police, solicitor normal Tushar Mehta mentioned the FIR can be filed the identical day.
The BJP has in the meantime maintained silence on the matter.
After the primary spherical of allegations, Singh had instructed the media: “Is anybody saying that the WFI has sexually harassed a wrestler? Solely Vinesh (Phogat) has mentioned it. Has anybody (else) come ahead and mentioned they have been sexually harassed? Even when one wrestler comes ahead and says she has been harassed, that day I may be hanged.”
Since then, seven ladies wrestlers, certainly one of them a minor, have filed a police grievance towards Singh at Delhi’s Connaught Place police station, in response to wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who’re main the protest.
The identities of the complainants haven’t been revealed as they’re junior athletes and revealing their identities may break their careers, Phogat has mentioned.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud mentioned the names of the complainants can be censored from judicial data to guard their identities.
Singh’s heft in UP
From Gonda to Kaiserganj and from native SP to BJP leaders in addition to political consultants — all of them are united of their opinion that Singh’s clout in UP is not only a results of his political energy however is backed by years spent within the wrestling fraternity, his instructional institutes, obvious goodwill and picture of a strongman.
Political science professor Dr Rishikesh Singh of Lal Bahadur Shastri Diploma School in Gonda mentioned “it was Koshlendra Dutt Ram [a former royal] of Gonda who suggested Singh [a law graduate from UP’s Dr RML Avadh University] to enter politics actively”.
Singh did begin his political profession from the constituency, successful his first Lok Sabha seat in 1991, after which in 1999 from Gonda. He gained the Lok Sabha elections from Balrampur in 2004, and from Kaiserganj in 2009, 2014 and 2019. He has reportedly all the time been a BJP candidate, besides in 2009 when he gained the election on the SP ticket.
He was additionally related to the Ram Janmabhoomi motion in 1989, in response to media stories. Within the mid-Nineties, he was arrested underneath the Terrorist and Disruptive Actions (Prevention) Act (TADA), for allegedly serving to associates of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, and spent a number of months in Tihar jail.
In 2004, after shifting to Balrampur, the BJP changed Singh with chief Ghanshyam Shukla because the occasion’s candidate from Gonda. Shukla was killed in a street accident which, some alleged, was a “homicide”. In an interview to Scroll.in, Singh had been quoted as saying that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had referred to as and mentioned “marwaa diyaa (you had him killed)”.
A 3rd BJP chief from Ayodhya instructed ThePrint that “not solely was he (Singh) one of many outstanding faces arrested together with senior BJP leaders L.Ok. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalyan Singh after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, however he was additionally all the time prepared to assist individuals related to the VHP and RSS”.
Singh can be identified for voting in favour of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA authorities in the course of the 2008 belief vote in Parliament following the India-US nuclear deal. He was then within the BJP, which had opposed the federal government on the difficulty, and was expelled from the occasion for cross-voting.
It was after this that he had joined the SP.
At the moment, his spouse Ketki Devi Singh is the president of Gonda Zila Panchayat and his son, Prateek Bhushan Singh, is an MLA from Gonda Sadar seat.
Spine of instructional institutes
Singh runs greater than 50 instructional institutes, together with faculties and faculties, in UP’s Bahraich, Gonda, Balrampur, Ayodhya and Shravasti districts, that are believed to be one other supply of his energy within the state.
A fourth BJP chief instructed ThePrint: “Singh’s important energy is wrestling, which is his love. The academic institutes are an instrument to unfold goodwill and create a base for politics by means of which he workouts affect. No less than a lakh college students research pharmacy, legislation, agriculture and different programs in his institutes.”
“Yearly on Singh’s birthday (8 January), college students shortlisted through a expertise search are rewarded with scooties, bikes and money. This yr, Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary had attended the prize distribution occasion. Singh additionally waives off the charge of hundreds of scholars yearly,” the chief added.
A neighborhood SP chief from Gonda termed the tutorial institutes as Singh’s “spine which helped the BJP win in constituencies of UP”.
“College students finding out in his institutes and their households develop into the primary voters of Brij Bhushan, whereas hundreds of professors and lecturers employed there develop into (BJP) panna pramukhs earlier than elections to complete his political work. This fashion, Singh doesn’t want any further effort to win. He additionally decides the candidates for a lot of seats and each occasion respects his energy,” added the chief.
‘BJP shouldn’t take a look at political achieve’
In private and non-private, Singh is thought to be opinionated and as somebody who speaks his thoughts, not sparing his personal occasion as properly. Final October, he focused the BJP-led authorities in UP over its dealing with of the floods within the monsoon. “Folks have been left to the mercy of the gods,” he was reported to have mentioned.
In Might final yr, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray reportedly cancelled a go to to Ayodhya scheduled for June after Singh warned that he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the town except he apologised for remarks he had allegedly made towards North Indians.
Singh additionally reportedly slammed yoga guru Ramdev, who is thought to get pleasure from a very good chemistry with the BJP excessive command, in December final yr for promoting “pretend ghee” underneath his Patanjali model and termed Ramdev the “king of adulteration”.
Within the ongoing controversy, political consultants are of the view that regardless of Singh’s muscle energy and affect, “the Centre shouldn’t take a look at petty political positive aspects in UP” and act towards Singh within the wake of the harassment fees.
Sanjay Gupta, professor of political science at Lucknow College, instructed ThePrint: “The PM launched the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to wash bodily filth, however the authorities must also use the Abhiyan within the sports activities physique (WFI) the place clean-up is required. It’s ironic that the Centre is attempting to advertise sports activities, whereas sportspersons who made India proud are saying they have been sexually harassed and are protesting”.
If the federal government doesn’t give consideration to the matter, it is going to go towards them, Gupta suggested, including: “The message being despatched is that the federal government isn’t standing with the sportspersons. The Centre shouldn’t take a look at petty political positive aspects in UP, however reasonably take into account what ladies and youth will assume if motion isn’t taken towards Singh.”
He identified that when the BJP had expelled MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar (convicted for the rape of a minor in Unnao), “then why not take motion towards Singh?”
In 2018, MJ Akbar, who was minister of state for exterior affairs within the Modi authorities, needed to put in his papers after harassment allegations by ladies journalists. Equally, Karnataka water sources minister Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned from the Yediyurappa cupboard in March 2021 within the wake of sexual harassment fees towards him.
However Chatting with ThePrint, BJP leaders from UP identified that “Singh doesn’t maintain any place within the occasion or within the cupboard”.
“What motion may be taken towards an MP? Solely the courtroom can save us,” certainly one of them mentioned.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Additionally learn: ‘Being referred to as liars’: Protesting wrestlers in tears over ‘inaction’ on sexual harassment fees towards WFI chief