‘Daughters have lost’: Wrestlers on candidature of Brij Bhushan’s son

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s decision to name Karan Bhushan Singh as the candidate from the Kaiserganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh, replacing his father and six-time MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, has drawn sharp criticism from wrestlers who hit the streets against former Wrestling federation of India (WFI) chief last year over the alleged sexual harassment of female wrestlers.
Brij Bhushan’s younger son, Karan (33), was elected as the Uttar Pradesh Wrestling Association president this February.
“India’s daughters have lost, Brij Bhushan has won,” Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik wrote on X after the decision became public. “All of us put our careers at stake, spent days on the street. Brij Bhushan has still not been arrested. All we ever demanded was justice. But let alone arrest, his son has got a ticket which has broken the spirits of crores of India’s daughters. The ticket has stayed in the family. Why is the government so weak in front of one man? All you want are votes in the name of Lord Ram, what about following his footsteps?” added Malik, who quit the sport last year after Brij Bhushan’s aide Sanjay Singh won the WFI elections.
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“We are deeply hurt and disappointed. The wrestlers are yet to get any justice and Karan’s elevation shows that no one really cares for us,” said Malik’s mother Sudesh. “My daughter quit wrestling in protest. Bajrang and Vinesh returned their national honours in disgust. All that has come to naught it seems,” she added.
In June 2023, Delhi Police filed a 1000-page chargesheet against Brij Bhushan invoking sections 354, 354D, 345A of the Indian Penal Code for stalking and sexual harassment. The case is currently being heard in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. Last month, the court dismissed his plea seeking further investigation in the case. The next hearing is scheduled on May 7.
Jitender Kumar, the former 74kg freestyle wrestler and one of the protestors, called Karan’s candidature a “stab in the back”. “The government has repeatedly taken us for a ride, but to see Brij Bhushan’s son getting a ticket is truly a stab in the back. Is this why we slept on the roads? Is this what we fought for? Brij Bhusan’s people are back in WFI and now his son will contest polls. It’s a shame,” Jitender added.
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Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist and one of the key faces of the wrestlers’ protest, Bajrang Punia, called the move the “country’s misfortune”. Training his guns on the BJP, the four-time World Championships medallist added: “The BJP calls itself the biggest political party of the world but out of their lakhs of workers, it chose to give a ticket to Brij Bhushan’s son. This, at a time when the party is surrounded by the Prajwal Revanna issue… It is the misfortune of this country that daughters who win medals for the country are dragged on the streets and the son of the man who sexually exploits them is honoured by granting an election ticket.”