New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has been unable to ignore heavyweight, strongman MP from Kaiserganj and former wrestling chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s claim over the region’s spoils and fielded his son, Karan Bhushan Singh, in his place.
While Brij Bhushan won’t be contesting the Lok Sabha polls this time, BJP has ensured it is all in the family and that it still has his support. The BJP is already reeling under the fear of Rajput resentment, marring its prospects not just in Gujarat, after minister Parshottam Rupala’s statements the community took offence to but also in northern India.
There has been intense speculation surrounding who would be the BJP’s choice for UP’s Kaiserganj seat for the past few months. This high-profile MP, ever since women wrestlers sat in an unprecedented stir against Singh and levelled serious charges of sexual harassment and molestation against him, has been painted in a corner, but remained defiant and lobbied for a ticket for himself till the last minute. On its part, say analysts, the BJP brazened it out almost all of last year and hoped that the storm over Brij Bhushan would blow over. A Supreme Court direction forced the Delhi police to take cognisance.
Posts on X from Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia.
Karan Bhushan Singh’s elder brother, Pratik Bhushan Singh, is an MLA from Gonda in the state, but now Karan is evidently the successor of his father, as he currently also heads the Uttar Pradesh wrestling body. He was elected president of the UP Wrestling Association in February, when, like the BJP nomination, he replaced his father. His brother Prateek is also a member of the Wrestling Federation of India. Their mother Ketaki Devi Singh is also a former MP. She was elected to the parliament in 1996. Together, Brij Bhushan and his wife have won the Kaiserganj and Gonda Lok Sabha seats six times since 1991.
A Thakur muscleman, Brij Bhushan is said to exert influence on a section of voters in Gonda, Balrampur, Bahraich districts in East UP. His grandfather Chandrabhan Singh was an MLA in the 1950s.
Votes in Kaiserganj will be cast on May 20 in the fifth phase of the polls. The last date of filing nomination is on Friday (May 3). It is believed that Brij Bhushan did his best till the last minute to get himself nominated. He was also actively campaigning in his constituency, holding small meetings and touring villages.
Earlier this month, when speculation was rife over him being potentially dropped as a BJP candidate, journalists asked him what he thought about the prospect. In his pompous style, Singh responded: “Kaun kaat raha hain uska naam batao. Katoge aap? Katoge aap? (Who is dropping my name? Will you cut (my name from the list)?”
Also read: Wrestlers’ Protest and the Politics of Doing the Right Thing
A controversial past
Brij Bhushan was the president of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for over ten years. His tenure faced some turbulence when India’s ace wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, accused him of sexually harassing women wrestlers and staged a protest in Delhi, which particularly drew attention when wrestlers were forcibly dragged and pulled away as the new Parliament building was inaugurated.
The incumbent and his coterie resisted having elections for the WFI and litigation also delayed it. When it finally was held, wrestlers protested and Sakshi Malik quit wrestling, leaving her shoes poignantly on the table as she left the press conference in tears in December 2023.
WFI earned notoriety in the sporting world. It was derecognised and elections were finally held last year, but wrestlers continued to protest as Brij Bhushan’s aide had won the elections. Eventually, an ad-hoc body held the trials as the Delhi high court said the ad hoc committee would supervise the selection of teams for the Asian Wrestling Championships and the World Olympic qualifiers, which were held in Bishkek, Kazakhstan, in April.
The heat is still not off and there is little clarity on the role of the ad hoc committee and the status of the Brij Bhushan’s self-proclaimed acolyte, Sanjay Singh who was chosen leader.
The Wire reported during the special session of the new parliament building, how the six-term MP, now with the BJP, Brij Bhushan – who is facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment – was present in the Lok Sabha when the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed.
