Waiting for court verdict on wrestlers' row, will fight next polls: WFI chief

Gonda (UP): BJP MP and WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused of sexually harassing female wrestlers, Sunday said he will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Kaisarganj again and was awaiting the court's verdict to speak on the grapplers' stir.

He was replying to queries from media persons after addressing a rally in the district's Balpur area where he skipped any direct reference to the wrestlers' protest for his arrest and chose to target the Congress over the Emergency, Ram temple, the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots and other issues.

Asked by the reporters why he was not commenting on the wrestlers' protest and what was he waiting for, the BJP MP said, "Court ke faisle ka (court's verdict)."

On whether he will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Gonda or Ayodhya, Singh said, "Kaiserganj Lok Sabha seat se chunav ladunga, ladunga, ladunga (I will definitely contest from Kaiserganj)."

Brij Bhushan Singh has represented the Kaisarganj Lok Sabha constituency thrice -- once as an SP MP (from 2009 to 2014). He won the 2004 general elections from the Balrampur Lok Sabha seat, and the 1991 and 1999 Lok Sabha polls from the Gonda seat on BJP tickets. Currently, he is serving a sixth term as Lok Sabha MP.

At the rally, he began his 23-minute speech with an Urdu couplet, "Kabhi ask, kabhi gumh, to kabhi zeher piya jata hai... tab ja kar zamane mein jiya jata hai. Yeh mila mujhko muhabbat ka silla, bewafa kehke mera naam liya jata hai. Isko ruswai kahen ki shohrat apni, dabe hontho se mera naam liya jata hai (Sometimes one has to take a lot of grief and poison to live in this world... This is the reward I got for my love, they call me unfaithful. Should I call it notoriety or fame, they take my name with pursed lips)."

The rally was organised to celebrate the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

So far, Singh has remained defiant despite facing possible action from the Delhi Police, which has recorded statements of over 200 people in connection with the case against him and will file a chargesheet by June 15.

On Saturday, the protesting wrestlers alleged he was using his influence to put sexual harassment victims under pressure and forcing them to change their statements. They also threatened to resume their stir if decisive action was not taken against the MP by June 15.

Singh has denied the allegations against him and claimed that some Congress leaders from Haryana hatched a conspiracy to defame him because of the reforms he brought as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief.

During his address on Sunday, the MP also said that no force in the world could stop the BJP from coming to power again in 2024.

In his attack on the Congress, Singh said, "In 1947, the country got divided when the Congress was in power. The wounds of the Partition had not even healed when Pakistan attacked and grabbed 78,000 square kilometres of our land while the Congress was in power."

"In 1962, when the Congress was in power, China attacked (us) and grabbed 33,000 square kilometres of our land. In 1971 (India-Pakistan war), an unprecedented 92,000 (Pakistani) soldiers were made prisoners of war by the Indian Army. Still, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi freed them without settling the old score," the outgoing WFI president said.

"Had there been a prime minister like (Narendra) Modi then in the country, the land that was grabbed would have been freed," he added.

Singh also attacked the Congress for imposing the Emergency in the country in 1975. "The Congress got Sikhs massacred in 1984 in the anti-Sikh riots," he added.

Showering praises on Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP leader said, "Earlier, we used to say 'Jahaan Balidaan (Syama Prasad) Mookerjee Huye, Woh Kashmir Hamara Hai' (the Kashmir where Syama Prasad Mookerjee attained martyrdom is ours). We proudly repeat this today, and it has been made possible because of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah."

Apparently referring to former Congress leader Kapil Sibal's 2017 pitch for deferment of hearing of the Ayodhya title suit till after the 2019 general elections, Singh said, "The Congress posed hurdles and obstructions by fielding a lawyer so that any decision on the Ram Temple would not come in time. It made the Supreme Court work even during midnight to save a convicted terrorist from capital punishment."

He also referred to the Congress demanding proof of the Indian Army's surgical strikes on terror camps following attacks in Uri and Pulwama and questioning the anti-COVID vaccine manufactured by scientists in India.

Earlier in the day, Singh covered a distance of nearly 40 kilometres by road to reach the event venue. Tarabganj MLA Prem Narayan Pandey and Colonelganj MLA Ajay Kumar Singh accompanied him. A large number of BJP workers and supporters turned up for the rally, braving temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius.

Higher Education Minister of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Yadav said, "The double-engine government of Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath is working very well. Whosoever has done wrong has been reduced to dust."

He also listed the achievements during the nine years of the Modi government, and said, "When Modiji was the chief minister of Gujarat, he was denied a visa to the US. But now, every president wants to meet him. Not just the US but every nation wants to have a good relationship with India."

Amid the wrestlers' protest, Brij Bhushan Singh had requested permission from the Ayodhya district administration to hold a rally on June 5 but was denied.

However, the MP had said he postponed the 'Jan Chetna Maharally' at the Ram Katha Park for "a few days" due to the ongoing police probe into the wrestlers' allegations against him.