Battle Between Sportspersons And A Bahubali

“India can move forward only by raising the levels of respect for women and by enhancing the sense of equality. I call upon all of you to move forward with the determination to remove every obstacle coming in the way of all women", said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a post-Budget webinar in March.

About two months later women wrestlers battling against a ‘Bahubali’ ruling the roost as President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) were pinned by Delhi Police on May 28, close to where the prime minister opened the new “Temple of Democracy,” Parliament building.

With the Prime Minister, and Home Minister Amit Shah maintaining silence on this issue, and the wrestlers getting support from all sections of society ranging from leading sportspersons, political parties, media and others, it could well snowball into a major issue.

The wrestlers, including many women who had brought glory to the country in international sporting meets, want the resignation of the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who is a Member of Parliament belonging to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There is a deafening silence from the Prime mMinister who had said that in the last nine years, the country has moved with a vision of women-led development, and that the budget for FY24 will give new momentum to efforts of women-led development.

Wrestlers threatening to throw their medals into the river Ganges were stopped at the last minute by farmers, and fellow sports persons including the members of the victorious 1983 World Cup cricket team led by Kapil Dev.

However, one member of that victorious squad, Roger Binny, kept away as he is President of the richest sports body, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The BCCI, for all practical purposes, is run by its Secretary Jay Shah, son of Home Minister Amit Shah, one of the most powerful figures in the current Indian political scene.

Modi said that the results of efforts for women empowerment were visible and a revolutionary change is being felt in the social life of the country. Probably it meant silence over the plight of women wrestlers who were felicitated by the PM when they came home with the medals.

Since January this year, the wrestlers have been protesting for the custodial investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh during his tenure as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

The female wrestler complainants accuse Bhushan of demanding "sexual favours" for getting professional help, groping, touching breasts and navel without consent, instances of stalking and intimidation, which has led to a "shared sense of fear and trauma" among the women wrestlers.

Singh has rejected all allegations in front of a government appointed committee. He was also seen at the inauguration of the New Parliament building. The inauguration was by the Prime minister portraying himself as a paragon of virtue.

With the Lok Sabha elections countdown having virtually begun, and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh having played a key role in the last elections in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, the powers that be appear not wanting to rub him on the wrong side.

Singh has influence in half a dozen Lok Sabha constituencies and strong links with the ‘saints’. his role in the Ayodhya temple movement makes him stronger than many other MPs in the BJP. The dozens of educational institutions he owns in eastern UP add to his vote bank.

Moreover, the recent municipal elections created a climate that works in favour of the six-term MP. Even his party, the BJP, which claims to be firm on discipline, has turned a proverbial Nelson’s eye to his behaviour.

A key player in the Ayodhya movement, Singh was known as a one-man army for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh when it had minimal presence on the political centre stage in the state. Singh (66) entered politics when senior BJP leader L. K. Advani came to Gonda during the Ayodhya movement. Singh offered to “drive” Advani’s ‘Rath’ and this catapulted him to instant fame within the BJP.

Singh won his first election in 1991, defeating Raja Anand Singh from Gonda. The next year he was named as an accused in the Babri demolition case which consolidated his “pro-Hindu image”. He was acquitted along with others in 2020.

Apart from his political acumen, Singh has been known as a mafia of the region and at one time, he was named in more than three dozen criminal cases.

In 1996, he was accused of sheltering associates of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. He was booked under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) Act and jailed.

During his stint in prison, Atal Bihari Vajpayee allegedly wrote to him, asking him to take courage and “remember Savarkarji who was sentenced to life imprisonment”.

Surely, a man receiving such encomiums from the BJP leadership is indeed encouraged to not take demands made by the wrestlers seriously knowing fully what value the BJP leadership attaches to him.

The BJP, interestingly, has always given ample political protection to Singh mainly because of the clout he wields in eastern UP and among Rajputs. The party leadership knows that it would lose out on seats if it showed the door to Singh.

Singh’s brazenness is evident from the fact that during the 2022 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, he reportedly admitted in an interview to a TV channel that he had committed one murder something that even the most dreaded criminal does not admit on camera.

In the interview, he said he shot the man who had killed Ravindra Singh. “I pushed the man who shot Ravindra Singh and shot him dead,” he said.

He owns around 50 schools and colleges and has interests in mining besides dabbling in liquor contracts, coal business and also real estate. Singh is known to gift motorcycles, scooters and money to students and supporters on his birthday every year.

His appointment as WFI chief in 2011, further added to his “weight”. In December 2021, he did not think twice before slapping a wrestler on-stage during an event in Ranchi.

The kind of clout that Singh wields within the BJP, is evident from the fact that he has even slammed the Adityanath government and accused the bureaucracy of making elected representatives “touch their feet”. He also criticised the state government’s lack of preparedness for floods.

However, his political clout is so strong in Uttar Pradesh as some BJP leaders say “one can simply not understand Yogi Adityanath turning a blind eye to Singh’s activities. It has to be pressure from the top that is preventing the Chief Minister from turning his bulldozer towards Singh’s kingdom.” said a party functionary.

“Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh believes he is invincible and does not fear even his own party leadership. No one can dare criticise him and even journalists keep a safe distance from him. The police bow before him. The clout he wields can only be seen to be believed,” said one of his former supporters.

Moreover, with the Lok Sabha elections just a few months away, the BJP appears not inclined to target Singh. He is any day an influential Thakur in state politics even though it is Adityanath who is recognised as a Thakur leader.

This becomes more apparent, when after an assurance that the Central government will form a committee to look into the allegations, its report was submitted on April 5, but not made public. The wrestlers resumed their protest on April 23 citing inaction by authorities and bias by the committee to favour the accused.

The Prime Minister and the Home Minister have both been criticised by the Opposition parties for being silent on the case. Several politicians extended their support to the protests and visited them as did leading athletes. Many farm unions have supported the wrestlers saying the athletes come from farming communities.

International sporting bodies United World Wrestling and International Olympic Committee have condemned the manhandling, arrest and temporary detention of the wrestlers on May 28. They urged the authorities to investigate the allegations against Bhushan failing which Indian athletes would be forced to participate under a neutral flag.

Vinesh Phogat, who has won multiple medals at the World Wrestling Championships, claimed she was "mentally harassed, tortured and threatened to be killed" by Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, for complaining against him to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur.

She was made to face widespread media scrutiny for the same under the guise of missing out on a medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. There are seven female wrestlers complainants in the FIRs, one of which is a minor.

Many Indian athletes extended their support on Twitter such as Abhinav Bindra, Neeraj Chopra, Sania Mirza, Shiva Keshavan, Nikhat Zareen, Harbhajan Singh, Rani Rampal, Virender Sehwag, Viren Rasquinha, Kapil Dev, Shikha Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Sunil Chhetri, Anil Kumble, Sunil Gavaskar and Madan Lal.

Retired Indian athlete and head of the Indian Olympic Association, P. T. Usha, had criticised the protests, saying it "amounted to indiscipline" and were "tarnishing the image of India". However, coming under severe criticism for her statement, she later visited the protest site assuring her support.