NEW DELHI: A day after the Delhi Police filed two FIRs in the alleged sexual harassment case against him, Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh came out in defiance and said he would not resign as it would mean “admission of guilt”.
This was on a day when Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal came out in support of the wrestlers and targeted the ruling BJP government for allegedly trying to save Singh.
Speaking to media from his home turf in Gonda (UP), Singh said the protesting wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, were not following due process. “I have faith in the judiciary and the police. I will cooperate in the investigation, but will not resign as this will mean I am guilty,” he said. The WFI chief alleged that the protesters did not show faith in the oversight committee formed to hear their grievances and started their ‘dharna’ again.
“They should have waited for the Sports Ministry’s action based on the committee report and then acted accordingly. But the report was leaked by someone who booked Jantar Mantar for them in January and who was then accommodated in the committee. Based on the leaks, they have jumped the gun,” he said.
Targeting the wrestlers, Vinesh in particular, Singh alleged that they had been changing their demands every now and then, and that “only one family (Phogats) and one ‘akhada’ was behind the protest”. “…They first wanted me to be put behind bars and now they want me to be removed as MP. I must tell them that I am not in Parliament because of someone’s generosity, but because of the voters who have been electing me,” he added.