Why BJP Can’t Afford To Ignore Brij Bhushan Saran Singh?
Lucknow, May 4 (TNA) Despite the criticism from all corners, ultimately BJP has given a ticket to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s son for the current Lok Sabha election. Singh’s son Karan Sharan Singh has been nominated as a BJP candidate in his father’s Kaiser Ganj seat in Uttar Pradesh, a seat Brij Bhushan has previously won six times.
Brij Bhushan Singh is accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour during his tenure as the President of the Wrestling Federation of India. Seven female wrestlers, including one minor, had filed complaints with the police accusing Mr Singh of molesting and groping them at training camps and tournaments, but Singh had denied all the allegations, accusing the wrestlers of being "politically motivated."
Top Indian wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, and Vinesh Phogat, among others protested at the Jantar Mantar in the national capital demanding action against Brij Bhushan, who they had accused of sexually harassing women grapplers. The wrestlers got support from all strata including farmers’ unions.
Talking to the Indian Express, Bajrang said, “I don’t know why the government is so scared of Brij Bhushan. His son getting the ticket also shows the ‘Parivarvad’ in the BJP. The BJP criticises other parties saying ‘Parivarvad’ exists, but they are no different.”
Expressing her anguish over extending a Lok Sabha ticket to the son of Brij Bhushan’s son, Sakshi Malik, the Indian woman Olympian medallist, writes on her Twitter (X) account in Hindi, “The daughters of the country lost, Brij Bhushan won. We all put our careers at stake and slept on the streets for many days in the sun and rain. To date, Brij Bhushan has not been arrested. We were not demanding anything; we were only demanding justice. Leave the arrest, today by giving a ticket to his son you have broken the morale of crores of daughters of the country. If the ticket goes to only one family, is the country's government so weak in front of one man?”
Congress in a tweet on X in Hindi quotes Priyanka Gandhi’s speech in a rally in Banaskantha, Gujarat on May 4, Wherein Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi questions the favouring of Brij Bhushan by giving LS ticket to his son, “Today, wherever women are being tortured in the country, the BJP government has supported the criminals. BJP government and Modi ji did not provide any help in the Unnao case, Hathras case, or women wrestlers case. BJP gave a ticket in Uttar Pradesh to the son of the person who tortured women wrestlers. Rajput women were insulted in Gujarat. Did PM Modi take action against that candidate?”
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also made a scathing attack on BJP on the issue of son of BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing allegations of sexual abuse of Indian women wrestlers, getting a Lok Sabha ticket and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's grandson HD Revanna sexually abusing hundreds of women.
On Friday, May 3, AAP Punjab's senior leader and spokesperson Neel Garg said that BJP is not just a threat to the Constitution of the country. It is also a threat to the women of the country. BJP is no longer Bharatiya Janata Party, it has now become the Balatkari Janata Party, alleges Neel Garg in a party press release.
He said that on the one hand BJP gives the slogan of Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao and on the other hand it encourages people who sexually exploit women by giving them Lok Sabha tickets. He said that women wrestlers in Delhi protested against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for months but BJP did not take any action against him. Neither any BJP leader, nor any minister, nor the Prime Minister spoke a word against Brij Bhushan Singh. Now on the contrary, his son has been given a Lok Sabha ticket.
He said that giving a Lok Sabha ticket to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's son is not just an insult to the women wrestlers of the country, it is an insult to all the women of India. He said that the people of the country are watching these misdeeds of BJP. In this election, the people of the country, especially women, will exact the price of these insults and abuse from the BJP.
But BJP is supporting its ticket giving action. What BJP pleads in its support? Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman says – Brij Bhushan is not convicted, so can’t question ticket to son. Talking to media persons on Saturday in Pune, Sitharaman said, “There has been nothing proved against Brij Bhushan yet. He is not convicted of anything. If he was, you could have questioned our decision.”
She further questions, “How many people are there whose fathers, mothers or uncles have been accused of serious crimes, but they have still got tickets.”
Is BJP scared of Brij Bhushan Singh?
Renowned Wrestler Bajrang Punia raises the question, “I don’t know why the government is so scared of Brij Bhushan?” It is pertinent to mention here that Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a six-time MP, having a strong hold in the Rajput community, has been victorious not only in his present Kaiserganj seat (in 2009, 2014, and 2019) but also in neighbouring constituencies including Gonda (in 1991 and 1999) and Balrampur (in 2004). He has a significant influence over half a dozen Lok Sabha seats in central UP due to his ownership of over 50 educational institutions in the region.
Could BJP have dared to ignore or neglect Brij Bhushan? No is the straight answer in the present scenario when BJP seems to be facing hardship to repeat its third term. Its only target is to get the throne third time under the pitch slogan ‘400 Par’. Do or die, No ifs and buts. Has BJP smelt the hollowness of its ‘400 Par’ slogan or still is in delusion?