In an explosive interview to India TV, international wrestling referee Jagbir Singh has disclosed how he watched Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh inappropriately touching women wrestlers during tournaments abroad. The controversial WFI chief had been challenging women wrestlers to bring witnesses to substantiate their charges and if proved, he had offered to hang himself. Jagbir Singh, who has been questioned by Delhi Police, told India TV that he saw Brij Bhushan inappropriately touching the women wrestlers several times. Delhi Police has so far recorded the statements of 125 witnesses across four states. Jagbir Singh told India TV that he saw Brij Bhushan inappropriately touching a heavyweight woman wrestler in Lucknow on March 25 last year during a photo session after the trials for Senior Asian Wrestling Championship. The wrestler, he said, was stunned and afraid, and she chose to stand away from the WFI chief. Jagbir Singh, who trains wrestlers at Delhi’s Chandgi Ram Akhada, has been working as international referee and judge since 2007 and the last time he attended an international tournament was in 2022. He was supposed to be sent on June 13, but WFI did not send him. He alleged that in 2013, during Thailand tour, Brij Bhushan arranged Indian food for wrestlers. “When he reached for dinner he was inebriated, and sexually harassed several female wrestlers by inappropriately touching them”, he said. Jagbir Singh also disclosed that after becoming WFI chief, Brij Bhushan made it a rule since 2012 to position female wrestlers’ mats in front of his dais at every wrestling competition. He also alleged that Brij Bhushan made it a point to stay only in those hotels where female wrestlers used to stay during foreign tours. Last year, during a wrestling championship in Bulgaria, he said, Brij Bhushan went to the training centre early in the morning and tried to teach wrestling tactics personally to the girls. ‘He became a laughing stock in front of referees from other countries’, Jagbir Singh said. With the key witness revealing so many incidents on camera, even Delhi Police will have to accept that the sexual harassment charges made by our female wrestlers have substance. I wonder whether Brij Bhushan will now say that he will hang himself. Secondly, about the harassment charge levelled by an adolescent female wrestler. First, Brij Bhushan’s camp tried to prove that she was not adolescent, but an adult. Soon after, it changed tack and tried to change her statement. These efforts were part of a plot to ensure that he was not arrested and POCSO (Protection of Children From Sexual Offences) Act should not be applied. Overall, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was trying every tactic in the game to ensure that he was not arrested and the case is weakened. But referee Jagbir Singh has now changed turned the table on him. Let us hope more witnesses will come forward and tell the public on camera. It will then be difficult for Brij Bhushan to save himself from the hands of law.
YOGI KILLS TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE
On Friday, UP government, in Prayagraj, handed over keys of 76 new flats to poor people, names of whom were drawn in a lottery. The flats were built in a record time of 15 months after land grabbed illegally by mafia don Atiq Ahmed was seized by the administration. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had laid the foundation stone in December 2021. A total of 6,071 people applied for 76 flats, 1,595 applicants were found eligible under EWS category, and after a lottery draw, names of 76 beneficiaries were announced. The block of flats, each of which is built in 800 sq. feet area, houses a ground floor and three floors, with parking space. It has a community hall and common area. Electricity is provided through solar lights. The happiness of owing a house was clearly evident from the smiles on the faces of women who got the keys. Yogi Adityanath achieved two aims by completing this project. One, poor families got a house of their own, and Two, mafia groups have been shown their right place. Yogi has shown how bulldozers can clear the ground for building homes for the poor.
AURANGZEB OR SHIVAJI : WHO’S OUR HERO?
The situation is returning to normal in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, after violence and stoning over posting of pictures of Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan by some miscreants on social media. Police arrested 36 persons and is now trying to mind out who provoked communal tension by posting these pictures. Muslims who came out after offering Friday prayers, said those who describe Aurangzeb as a hero in Maharashtra can never be called patriots. They said, Shivaji has always been our ideal, and not Aurangzeb. In Hyderabad, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi asked, since when posting of Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan’s pictures on social media has become a crime. He attacked Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on his ‘Aurangzeb ki Aulaad’ remark, and asked who were the ‘aulaad’ (offsprings) of Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and Madanlal Pahwa, accused in Gandhi assassination case. Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule said, if there is tension in the state, Owaisi will be solely responsible. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) leader Sanjay Raut alleged that it was BJP which was creating communal tension. He said, “after failing to win Karnataka by using the name of Bajrangbali, BJP is now fomenting tension in the name of Aurangzeb”. After watching what the common Muslims in Kolhapur say and what the leaders say, there is no need to say that common people do not want riots and the Muslims living in Maharashtra consider Shivaji their hero. They are not with those who consider Aurangzeb their hero. But there are leaders who incite people by making inflammatory remarks. Neither Owaisi nor Sanjay Raut are innocent. All political parties, including BJP, are trying to make political hay by taking the names of Shivaji and Aurangzeb. The common public must understand this fact.