A committee has been constituted to investigate the allegations of sexual exploitation of women wrestlers against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Friday constituted a seven-member committee to probe allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Brij Bhushan by top wrestlers. Players like MC Mary Kom and Yogeshwar Dutt are also included in this committee. However, no action has been taken against him by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) so far.
BJP didn’t ask me for any explanation: Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh told The Indian Express on Friday that the BJP has not sought any clarification from him on the matter, nor has he approached anyone in the party on this. On the allegations, he said, “This is an allegation that I am facing myself. My party doesn’t need to get into it.” The report quoted sources as saying that there is some concern within the BJP over the growing backlash against its long-serving MP. Should not affect the morale of other players.
Fate will be decided on 22nd July?
But it is being said that despite all these concerns, BJP will not take action against Brij Bhushan, MP from Kaiserganj, UP for the time being. According to reports, the BJP will not seek Brij Bhushan Singh’s resignation from the post of Wrestling Federation of India president as the allegations against him are “not tenable”. The six-time BJP MP, who headed the wrestling federation for 10 years, said he has called a general body meeting of the federation in Ayodhya on January 22. It has about 80 members. He said that “there all these issues will be discussed” and a decision will be taken.
Brijbhushan Singh’s tenure is ending next month
Please tell that the four-year term of Brij Bhushan Singh is going to end in February. After becoming the WFI President for the third time in February 2019, he has now spent 10 years in the post. A party source said, “The party leadership is aware of the bad situation in various sports bodies, but the allegations leveled by wrestlers against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh are not credible. So in today’s situation, it is unlikely that the BJP leadership will take a stand on them.” Will pressurize him to step down.”
Ramdev was called “King of Adulterations”
According to the report, sources said that Brij Bhushan Singh has told the party that there is a ‘conspiracy’ behind the allegations as he had ‘upset some powerful personalities’ recently. He publicly announced on Friday that he would not step down. BJP leaders have also taken cognizance of Brij Bhushan Singh’s recent ‘conflict’ with some well-known personalities. Last month, he had called Baba Ramdev the “king of adulteration” and demanded a probe into his food items. After which the yoga guru sent him a notice to apologise. However, Brij Bhushan Singh refused to do so.
Brij Bhushan has also criticized the Yogi government
Not only Ramdev alone, the BJP MP also criticized the UP government. Last year, the MP had criticized the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh administration over flood management. He alleged poor preparedness to deal with the floods and not taking adequate measures for relief. He had said that people were left “up to God”.
Last year, he got into an altercation with a Union minister in Parliament House. It was alleged that the minister had refused to meet him despite repeated requests. A party leader from Uttar Pradesh said, “Brij Bhushan Singh’s aides say there could be a political conspiracy behind the allegations. Though there is no clarity on that, but his (Brij Bhushan) point of view is important and cannot be ignored.
Brij Bhushan Singh, who dominates UP’s Gonda district, is largely a self-made leader. He is not originally from the BJP cadre. Now the opposition parties are also raising the issue of exploitation of wrestlers. This has helped to further Brij Bhushan Singh’s argument that the issue is “political”. The Congress on Friday demanded that the WFI be dissolved and questioned PM Modi.