Lucknow: It’s not just the BJP that has been maintaining silence on the sexual harassment allegations against its MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief.
Even the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its president Akhilesh Yadav, who is usually quick to target the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh (UP) on issues ranging from “encounters” to the case of the Sarus crane, have not joined the opposition chorus demanding action against Brij Bhushan.
The only comments from the SP have come from Mainpuri MP and Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav, and his cousin Dharmendra Yadav, a former Badaun MP, both of whom have demanded a fair probe in the case.
Brij Bhushan, who has denied the allegations against him, lavished praise on former chief minister Akhilesh last week for not siding with the ongoing wrestlers’ protest.
“I want to thank Akhilesh Yadav. I have known him since his childhood,” he said to mediapersons on 30 April. “I am elder to him. Though there are political differences between us, Akhilesh knows the truth.”
“Among the wrestlers in UP, about 80 per cent belong to the SP ideology. They (the wrestlers) call me ‘Netaji’ with love. They tell (others) how their Netaji is,” he added.
Days later, Brij Bhushan dwelt on his relationship with Akhilesh’s father, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was a wrestler himself in his youth, and other SP leaders while speaking to a news channel. “I have visited Saifai (Yadav family’s native village) several times accompanied by wrestlers. Akhilesh came at one of my events. Mulayam Singh came at one of my events. In UP, everybody knows each other’s character,” he said.
Rubbishing rumours of joining the SP, the former WFI chief said he would continue to work for the BJP and would not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if the party asked him not to.
Currently representing Kaiserganj, Brij Bhushan is a six-time Lok Sabha MP from Gonda, Kaiserganj and Balrampur constituencies of UP. BJP leaders had earlier told ThePrint that he was a powerful leader who “dictates politics and ticket distribution in the five constituencies of Gonda, Bahraich, Domariyaganj, Kaiserganj and Shravasti”.
According to SP insiders, with the general elections looming, the party is in a wait-and-watch mode over the wrestlers’ allegations against Brij Bhushan.
When asked about the SP’s stand on the issue, party spokesperson Manoj Singh Kaka chose to dwell on the incidents of crime against women in Hathras (alleged gangrape and murder) and Unnao (rape case involving former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar), and said that law and order in UP had collapsed.
“The CM (Yogi Adityanath) is only indulging in talks of hatred. Look at what happened in Prayagraj — a government-sponsored crime (apparent reference to recent killing of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf),” he said. “Nobody is interested in talking about the rise of cylinder prices and the plight of the poor.”
SP’s chief spokesperson Rajendra Choudhary denied speculation that the WFI chief would join the party. “There is no substance in such rumours,” he said, when pressed for a comment on the matter. “He is in the BJP and the BJP is trying to save Brij Bhushan.”
‘Brij Bhushan key in some constituencies’
A senior SP leader, not willing to be named, told ThePrint that “Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh is still an important player in some constituencies and the fact cannot be denied”.
“The party will not make a clear statement on the matter, at least till the time he is arrested. If he evades action, he (Brij Bhushan) will keep his options open, especially since he has been an MP from the SP (in 2009),” said the leader.
Leaders from the SP’s Gonda unit pointed out that Brij Bhushan enjoyed a good relationship with Mulayam Singh and had served as an MP with Akhilesh in the 15th Lok Sabha, when he was elected from Kaiserganj.
“Mulayam Singh had inducted Brij Bhushan into the party in 2008 after he was expelled by the BJP when he cross-voted during that year’s trust vote in Parliament. That bargain had some conditions, which were honoured,” the SP leader explained.
“Mulayam Singh had also brokered a compromise between Brij Bhushan and his friend-turned-foe Pandit Singh (a former minister in the SP cabinet) despite the latter accusing Brij Bhushan of involvement in a near-death attack against him,” the leader added.
When asked about Brij Bhushan’s praise for Akhilesh, a man he had once termed the last “badshaah of the Mulayam sultanate”, a second senior SP leader said the BJP MP was “merely indulging in pressure tactics”.
“These are pressure tactics. There was a time when he had said a lot of other things (about Akhilesh). The SP is watching these developments closely and the BJP’s reaction. Brij Bhushan enjoys support among the Rajput community. What if he manages to come out scot-free?” the leader asked.
Dimple demands ‘fair probe’
Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav spoke to mediapersons on the subject of Brij Bhushan in Mainpuri Thursday.
When asked about Akhilesh’s silence on the issue, she said: “It is our demand that a fair probe take place. Both sides have their versions. The case is in the court and the court will decide.”
On Brij Bhushan’s praise for Akhilesh, she added: “Now, you have to understand the kind of things that happen in politics. You have to understand who praises someone when, but the matter is in the eyes of the Supreme Court,” she said.
The wrestlers had approached the Supreme Court seeking an FIR against Brij Bhushan. Once he was booked, the court this week closed its proceedings in the matter.
Last week, the SP’s former Badaun MP Dharmendra Yadav also demanded an investigation into the charges and arrest of the accused.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)