New Delhi: The meeting between Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and former president of the Wrestling Federation of India, and party president J.P. Nadda suggests Singh may have become more powerful in the scheme of things before the Lok Sabha polls.
Singh emerged saying he has “nothing to do with wrestling” – and drew attention to how he still reigned supreme in the party. He said he had bigger tasks to accomplish – like the 2024 general election. PTI quoted him as saying, “WFI elections were held on SC [Supreme Court] directions. Further, Sanjay Singh is not my relative. To resume the sports activities and not waste a year of young wrestlers, it was decided to conduct the games in Nandini Nagar. Now, I do not have anything to do with wrestling and have to look into the Lok Sabha polls that are approaching. Whatever decision has to be taken will be taken by the new federation.”
“I have nothing to do with the sport now. I have other responsibilities to focus now. I will be away from the politics of this sport,” he added, writes Deccan Herald. This would suggest he has just being taken off from wrestling, as the public attention as well as visible annoyance of the influential Jat community in Haryana was getting hard to avoid. But B.B.S. Singh remains central to the BJP’s plans in the future and it has not been ruled out by the party that he may be accommodated in a more powerful position.
And previously…
The Delhi Police (directly under the control of Union home minister Amit Shah) has never really moved on Singh; it took a Supreme Court order to even get an FIR filed. The Delhi Police told a court in September that the BJP MP had “outraged the modesty” of the women wrestlers. This was when Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court was hearing the case on framing of charges against him after the chargesheet was filed in the sexual harassment case filed by six women wrestlers.
India Today reported how Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava, representing the Delhi Police, told the court that the WFI chief “knew what he was doing” and his intention was to outrage the modesty of the wrestlers. He also pointed out that there are three types of evidence against Singh which are enough to frame charges. These include a written complaint and two recorded statements under Sections 161 (examination of witnesses by the police) and 164 (statements recorded by a magistrate) under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Srivastava is reported to have said the court is within its jurisdiction to frame charges against Singh. He also countered the argument made by the WFI chief’s lawyer that sanction under Section 188 of the CrPC is required for cases that took place outside India. But Singh continued to show growing impunity.
In November, while speaking to meritorious students in his constituency of Gonda, Deccan Herald reported how he had said that he had been a ‘dabang‘ (muscleman) since his childhood and that he had, after failing twice in the 8th standard, one of his classmates write his answer sheets by threatening to ‘break’ his bones if he (the classmate) refused.
After the election of the new president, scenes of “dab daba thaa, dab daba rahega (we have had control, will retain control)” emerged, with Singh being garlanded and feted – making clear there was no real change of guard. Medallist Sakshi Malik retired from wrestling, gold medallist Bajrang Punia said he was returning his Padmashree. It was only after that, and the decision to hold the next camp in Gonda (an area meant to be close to where Singh’s personal area of control and influence is) that the sports ministry issued a statement.
Speaking of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, it was only after his candidate (by his own admission) declared the decision of the new WFI to hold the next camp in Gonda (Singh’s Lok Sabha constituency) that the sports ministry issued a statement.
Wrestlers were beaten up and dragged off protesting on the day of the inauguration of the new building of parliament on September 20. Singh sat and participated in the passing of the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, which provides 33% reservation to women in parliament and state legislative assemblies, and was passed by the Lok Sabha. As The Wire reported, “Singh was seen sitting in the Lok Sabha among BJP MPs only a few rows behind Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Amit Shah as the latter gave his speech on the Bill and pledged his government’s support towards women empowerment.”