On his personal website, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh says he held the Ram Janmabhoomi movement “shoulder to shoulder” with LK Advani. Singh claims he shared a “very close bond” with famous wrestlers of yesteryears such as Janardhan Singh, Ram Aasre, Ramachandra and Ganga Prasad. That may explain why he is the President of the Wrestling Federation of India for the last 12 years, getting his third term in 2019.
He owns and manages over 50 education institutions in Uttar Pradesh. Singh also has a considerable political clout, being an MP from Uttar Pradesh for three decades.
He did try his luck with the Samajwadi Party for a while before returning to the BJP fold before the 2014 elections. He won in 2019 with a big margin as well. But now the damning allegations by India’s top wrestlers and Olympians against him may finally be the nemesis of Singh, who, so far, has had an iron grip on politics as well as the wrestling federation. “The party has zero tolerance in such matters…strong action will be taken on the complaints,” a senior BJP leader told News18.
According to sources, Singh is likely to resign from his post at the next federation meeting on January 22.
“The efforts of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh have made Kushti Nation’s Popular Game,” says his website, citing his encouragement to players like Sakshi Malik and Yogeshwar Dutt and the boost he gave to women wrestling. Only the country’s wrestlers do not agree anymore and have chosen to sit on a dharna at Jantar Mantar demanding his removal.
Singh is the son of the late freedom fighter Chandrabhan Sharan Singh who was also an MLA. On his website, Singh says a “fake case” was registered against him at the age of 16 in 1974 when his home was demolished due to family rivalry but he was booked for attempted murder. “This affected him deeply and a feeling of social service rose in his heart,” his website says.
It adds that in his student days, he once “saved the respect of girls” who were being eve-teased and later won the students’ union election in 1979. Ironically, serious allegations of sexual harassment have now been made against Singh by top wrestlers of India.
Singh says he came into politics as Gonda needed a Hindu leader but he lost his first election by 14 votes. He then immersed himself in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and spent a month in jail after LK Advani was arrested. “When Advani came out of jail and started his journey to Ayodhya, Brij Bhushan stood with Aadvani like a charioteer,” the website says.
In 1991, he went ahead to win his first election. Soon after, he was booked under TADA but the BJP gave a ticket to his wife who won the election. In 1999, he got the BJP ticket from Balrampur, the area of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
He took on Mayawati when she was the CM and changed the name of Gonda to “Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan Nagar” and forced her to make the decision. But in 2009, he fell out with the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party to again win the Kaiserganj seat. But he could not last there and returned to the BJP before 2014 elections to win the next two elections.
Singh’s images of getting aggressive and hurling abuses are dominating headlines of late as the country’s top wrestlers have come out against him and lodged serious charges against him demanding his removal.
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