Controversy Erupts in Indian Wrestling Federation: Sexual Harassment Allegations Against President Brij Bhushan Singh
In this entire controversy, there are 4 sides :
- Brij Bhushan Singh – President of Wrestling Fed of India
- Few prominent protesting wrestlers – Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik
- Deependra Huda
- Vultures
In 2011, elections happened for the President post of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI)
J&K-based wrestler Dushyant Sharma won the election and became President
Haryana Wrestling Fed challenged this election in Delhi High Court and won the case. The court asked for a re-election
Congress leader Deepender Singh Huda wanted to become President of the Wrestlers Federation of India (WFI)
Brij Bhushan Singh also decided to fight the election. That time he was an active member of the Samajwadi party
Brij Bhushan Singh asked Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party chief) for help. Mulayam Singh Yadav talked to Ahmed Patel (Gujarat Congress President). At that time Congress was in Power with the support of the Samajwadi Party.
Ahmed Patel asked Deependra Singh Huda to withdraw and with a heavy heart he withdrew. Brij Bhushan Singh became President of the Wrestling Federation of India in 2012
The WFI President post is for 4 years. He won in 2015 and 2019 also. In 2014, He again joined BJP and BJP also won in Center so he got support from BJP.
Brij Bhushan Singh is an old BJP member. He was involved in the Ram Mandir movement also and he was the first one who was arrested by CBI in the Babri demolition case. From 2008-14, he was with Samajwadi Party
Deepender Singh Huda became President of the Haryana Wrestling Federation in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
Brij Bhushan Singh became the most successful President of WFI in Indian history. Indians won many medals in his tenure. It strengthened his position more in WFI but most of the medals were won by Haryana wrestlers.
The tussle between wrestlers for selection is not new in Indian wrestling. One of the most famous cases happened in 2016, between Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Yadav. Sushil was an Olympic medalist and he wants to play in RIO Olympics but WFI wanted to send Narsingh Singh. Sushil Kumar was from Haryana and Narsingh Yadav was from UP. The matter reached to High Court and the court gave judgement in favour of Narsingh Yadav. But before He could go, he failed a dope test. He blamed Sushil Kumar and Haryana Federation for adulterating his food.
In 2020, one more controversy happened when Vinesh Phogat was suspended when she displayed her sponsor logo on her dress in place of the Indian logo at the Tokyo Olympics. She also denied staying with other wrestlers. She could not win a medal. Disputes between the World Federation of India and Haryana wrestlers increased when WFI brought new selection rules in Nov 2021. According to new rules, each and every wrestler irrespective of medal holder or not, they have to play nationals and have to go via trials. WFI also fixed the quota for every state. It was heavily opposed by the Haryana Federation but WFI didn’t retreat.
An open fight happened between Brij Bhushan Singh and Haryana Federation in June 2022. WFI dissolved Haryana Federation and removed Deepender Singh Huda from the post of President of the Haryana Federation and appointed Rohtas Nandlal as the new president.
On the other side, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik were opposing the new selection rules and they didn’t participate in National Games in Gujarat and the Selection trial at New Delhi in December. In December 2022, WFI cleared that those who participated in the selection trial will only be considered for Asian games which means game over for Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik.
In January 2023, Wrestlers started the protest against Brij Bhushan Singh on Jantar Mantar. Their initial allegations were the working style of Brij Bhushan Singh but this sexual harassment angle came later.
The government appointed a committee and they stopped their protest.
The next election for President of WFI was scheduled on May 2023. No one can become President more than 3 times so Deepender Singh Huda was sure that this time he will become the President. But later he got to know that Brij Bhushan Singh is planning to promote his son to President’s post.
Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik wanted to play Asian games without a selection trial. Deepender Singh Huda wanted to become President. For them, a common enemy was Brij Bhushan Singh so both joined hands.
In April 2023, Wrestlers started to protest again against Brij Bhushan Singh. In their previous protest, their main allegations were rude behaviour and misconduct of Brij Bhushan Singh but this time they completely changed their plan and started to speak about Sexual harassment. Huda’s plan is to use this case and become the next president of WFI which he could not become in 2012. The government cancelled the elections of May 2023 and formed an ad-hoc committee. Now here comes the entry of Vultures. Karnataka elections going on, Rajasthan n MP elections r coming n
Haryana elections are planned for next year. So vultures thought to use this opportunity against BJP. A tool kit was prepared to use this case at the following points:
- Portray BJP as anti-woman
- Portray BJP as anti-Jat
- Create a rift between Jat and Rajput
- Divide Hindus
The Jat community are an important group in Rajasthan and Haryana. BJP successfully united all Hindus in 2014, and 2019. The plan from the opposition is to divide Hindus. The truth is who are those 7 women who were harassed? No one knows.
Priyanka Vadra who didn’t take a stand for her own party member of Assam against BV Srinivas reached Jantar Mantar to support the wrestlers protest. Pro-Congress Jat and Rajput group suddenly started to abuse and threaten PM Modi.
Currently, it’s difficult to predict but it shows that Vulture will use this to create a caste divide in India especially between Jat and Rajput.
Source Credit: https://twitter.com/Starboy2079