BJP warns Brij Bhushan not to speak out against Vinesh, Punia ahead of Haryana polls

The BJP high command’s advice comes after Brij Bhushan Singh lashed out at the two wrestlers for joining the Congress before the Haryana assembly elections.

Pawns of the Congress, alleges Singh

Singh, a former chief of WFI, was last year in a shocking development accused of sexual assault by several female wrestlers, who sat on a protest for weeks demanding a probe against him. Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who is an Olympic bronze-medallist, along with another Olympic bronze-winner Sakshi Malik had led the agitation against him last year.

However, Singh had alleged the allegations against him were a conspiracy hatched by the Congress, and has now claimed that this has been proved by Phogat and wrestler Bajrang Punia joining the Congress party.

According to Brij Bhushan, Punia and Phogat were mohrey (pawns) and they were used like pawns by (former Haryana Chief Minister) Bhupinder Hooda, the Congress and the Congress family. He told news agency PTI on Saturday, "This was all conspired to gain a hold on the Wrestling Federation of India and to attack the BJP and its ideology... This team of Rahul (Gandhi), the Congress keeps doing these things.”

Like Draupadi...

On Sunday, Singh used a reference from the epic Mahabharata and told reporters at his residence that the Hooda family of Congress is conspiring against him by using wrestlers as wager just as Pandavas had put Draupadi at stake.

He said, "In the gambling which took place in Mahabharat, Draupadi was put at stake. The Pandavas lost. The country is still not able to accept their reasons for doing it." He added, "The Hooda family … put the honour of daughters and sisters at stake. The future generation will not forgive them for this and they will always be held guilty for this."

Singh said, "Bajrang Punia's mental condition has deteriorated. He had put his wife at stake. I want to ask him why he went to play in the Asian Games without trials?"

Asked about the wrestlers' protest in Delhi, Singh said, "There was no protest of wrestlers in Delhi. It was a family protest. When we say wrestlers, a group comes. Are wrestlers not in Punjab, Haryana? Are they not in Maharashtra, Bihar, UP, Bengal and Himachal?"

He accused Congress leader Deepender Hooda of leading the protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. "Priyanka Gandhi also used to come."

Earlier, he had also said Vinesh and Bajrang made a name in wrestling and became famous for the strength of the sport but after joining Congress, their names will be erased.

He also challenged Vinesh and Bajrang to win in the Haryana assembly elections. "They are mistaken if they are thinking that they would win the assembly elections. They can contest any Assembly seat in Haryana, a small BJP candidate will defeat them", he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

Notably, a day later, Vinesh was fielded from Haryana's Julana Assembly segment by the Congress.

Singh and WFI

Singh first got control of WFI in 2012 after a bitter turf war with Deepender Singh Hooda.

The agitation against him by the wrestlers on charges of sexual harassment forced Singh, a six-time Lok Sabha MP from the Kaiserganj constituency, to step down from the position of WFI head. He is currently facing criminal charges in a court.

After his ouster, his close aide Sanjay Singh was elected as the head of WFI but the body is yet to get recognition from the sports ministry, even though the world governing body for wrestling, UWW, has endorsed it.