Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh said to ANI, “Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling.I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day?”
He added, “Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in? You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same.”
Singh strongly rejected claims of sexual misconduct and said that it was in fact Phogat and fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia who caused “embarrassment to daughters”.
Refuting allegations of misconduct, Singh said, “I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda, is responsible for that,”
Singh further alleged that the wrestlers’ protest against him was not for the dignity of women but a political plot.
“I want to tell the people of Haryana that Bhupinder Hooda, Deepender Hooda, Bajrang, and Vinesh were not sitting (on protest) for the dignity of girls. Due to them, the daughters of Haryana are facing embarrassment. We are not responsible for it, Bhupinder Hooda and Deependra Hooda and these protesters are responsible for it,” the former WFI chief said.
He accused the Congress party of orchestrating the protests against him to discredit the ruling BJP and manipulate public opinion.
Attacking the Congress, Singh said, “From the beginning, I claimed that the protests were not a genuine movement by sportspersons but a Congress-led initiative. Bhupinder Hooda and his party were behind this entire conspiracy.”
He maintained that the wrestlers’ grievances were a pretext to achieve political goals rather than a genuine fight for women’s rights.
WFI chief backs Brij Bhushan
Current President of the WFI Sanjay Singh backed Bhushan and accused the wrestlers of conspiring against the wrestling community, saying, “This protest was bound to happen as it was orchestrated by Congress.”
He claimed that the protest disrupted wrestling activities, potentially impacting India’s performance in international competitions.
“This entire conspiracy was also hatched because 4-5 wrestling medals were going to come in the Olympics. The protest also affected those medals. There was no wrestling activity for 2 years in the Olympic year, so due to that, we got fewer medals. Our wrestlers were not able to practice… Now these people are not going to have any impact on our wrestling association,” Sanjay Singh added.
Wrestlers’ entry into politics
Wrestlers Phogat and Punia officially joined the Congress party on Friday, just before the Haryana assembly elections. Both wrestlers resigned from their positions with Northern Railways earlier that day.
Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final, was immediately fielded as a candidate for the Julana constituency, while Punia, a bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, was appointed the working president of the All India Kisan Congress.