New Delhi: Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshee Malikkh and Vinesh Phogat set out to hold a press conference in New Delhi Thursday to register their objections over Sanjay Singh — a close aide of former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh — reportedly emerging as a frontrunner in the race to become chief of the wrestling body.
However, the wrestlers were not granted permission to address the media at Raj Ghat, where police were deployed in large numbers Thursday afternoon. Phogat said in a tweet later in the day that the Delhi Police had “imposed Section 144 (of the CrPC) at Raj Ghat” and that a date and time for the next press conference would be “finalised soon”.
DCP Central Delhi in a tweet confirmed that “Section 144 has been invoked in areas nearby Rajghat, ITO, Red Fort etc.” in view of Independence Day celebrations.
पुलिस ने राजघाट पर धारा 144 लगा दी है और हमें प्रेस कांफ्रेंस करने से रोक दिया है।
अगली प्रेस कांफ्रेंस का टाइम और जगह जल्दी फाइनल करेंगे। 🙏— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) August 10, 2023
पुलिस ने राजघाट पर धारा 144 लगा दी है और हमें प्रेस कांफ्रेंस करने से रोक दिया है।
अगली प्रेस कांफ्रेंस का टाइम और जगह जल्दी फाइनल करेंगे। 🙏
— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) August 10, 2023
Voting for the WFI’s top post — which six-time Lok Sabha MP Brij Bhushan occupied for the past 12 years — is set to be held Saturday.
“He (Sanjay Singh) is a close aide of Brij Bhushan, and no reform will happen in the wrestling federation if he wins,” Malikkh’s mother, Sudesh Mallik, told ThePrint Thursday, adding that wrestlers opposed to Brij Bhushan are in touch with the government to seek its intervention in stopping Sanjay Singh’s bid to become WFI chief.
On 31 July, Brij Bhushan held a meeting at the WFI office in New Delhi that was attended by Sanjay Singh and the chiefs of more than 25 state wrestling federations. This led to speculation in several media reports that Singh — a joint secretary of the WFI who is from Uttar Pradesh — was the frontrunner to become president of the body that governs wrestling in India.
In an interview with Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar Tuesday, Olympic bronze medalist Punia had said that concerns about the lack of safety of women wrestlers will persist if Sanjay Singh becomes WFI chief.
ThePrint reached Sanjay Singh for comment but was told that he would return the call. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Having camped at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi for 36 days earlier this year to highlight their demand for action against Brij Bhushan over allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by six women wrestlers, Punia and the others had suspended their protest on 7 June following an assurance by the sports ministry that neither Brij Bhushan nor any of his family members would be allowed to contest the WFI elections.
The protesting wrestlers had also demanded that none of Brij Bhushan’s close aides be allowed to make a bid for the top post within WFI.
In a chargesheet filed last month, the Delhi Police said that Brij Bhushan was “liable to be prosecuted and punished” for offences of sexual harassment, molestation and stalking.
Also Read: ‘Left our rooms in groups to avoid being alone with him’ — what FIRs against Brij Bhushan allege
Wrestling Federation of India elections
Besides Sanjay Singh, other contenders for the post of WFI president include Anita Sheoran, Jai Prakash and Dushyant Sharma.
Sheoran is the only woman in the fray and has the backing of wrestlers opposed to Brij Bhushan. A 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, she is also a witness against him in a sexual harassment case.
Elections to the wrestling body are held by secret ballot and proxy voting is not allowed.
According to Article IV of the wrestling federation constitution, all state wrestling federations are entitled to send two representatives to the general council. Each of these representatives has one vote.
While both the Services Sports Control Board and the Railways Sports Promotion Board also send one representative each to the council, these representatives don’t have voting rights.
Brij Bhushan’s influence over WFI
Wrestlers opposed to Brij Bhushan have expressed a fear that fresh elections to the wrestling body will have little or no impact on his influence over the functioning of the WFI.
“In his last three terms, Brij Bhushan ensured a place for his men as chiefs of all state (wrestling) federations,” Congress MP Deepender Hooda, a former head of the Haryana Wrestling Federation, had told ThePrint in an interview over the phone in June this year.
WFI officials and leaders of state wrestling federations, however, have come out in support of Brij Bhushan, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament from UP’s Kaiserganj.
Last month, ThePrint spoke to chiefs of 10 state wrestling federations, all of whom voiced their support for Brij Bhushan.
“He has worked a lot for the sport. He has brought us Olympic glory, increased the number of domestic tournaments, and even prize money. What he has done for Indian wrestling’s upliftment is akin to what Sushil pehelwan (Kumar) did,” a state president had said, requesting anonymity.
Former Sports Authority of India (SAI) coach Ajit Singh, a critic of the protesting wrestlers, had told ThePrint that they “cannot demand government intervention” in WFI elections, which is an autonomous body.
“Democratically, either the president or the secretary of any state federation can contest elections, and if they win the electoral college majority vote, they win for four terms. The government has no right to interfere in the elections of an autonomous body,” he had said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also Read: Dawood, Babri, TADA: Brij Bhushan Singh’s escapes from law and what makes the WFI chief so powerful