Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been at the helm of sexual harassment complaints by India’s top wrestlers, has said that he is ready to take the Narco test if the protesting wrestlers take the test first.
“I’m ready for the Narco test, but first, get their wrestlers Narco test done. I respect the judiciary and will respect their decision,” the BJP MP said told the media. He also questioned why the wrestlers were still protesting when their FIR have been registered.
Alleging a conspiracy against him, Singh claimed that the wrestlers who were staging protests, “have not been able to tell till today, what happened with them, when, where and how.”
"I am saying this conspiracy is not of today. It has been going on for many days, but something good will happen through this. Only God knows how I am surviving," he said at a public meeting in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh.
He also sought to equate grappler Vinesh Phogat, a Commonwealth and Asian Games medalist, with ‘Manthara’, a character in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Manthara was Queen Kaikeyi's maid, who convinced her the throne of Ayodhya belonged to her son Bharat and that her stepson and crown-prince Ram should be exiled from the kingdom.
"This is a case of good touch-bad touch. False allegations have been levelled against me. God has made me a medium to fight against these allegations. This is because God himself never appears. He makes someone a medium. In the same manner, God has made me the medium to fight these allegations," he said at the public meeting.
The WFI president has been accused of sexual harassment by seven women wrestlers. He has repeatedly denied the allegations.
Prominent wrestlers, including Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, have been protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar since January and resumed their protest again on April 23, accusing the Kaiserganj MP of sexual exploitation.
The Sports Ministry has cancelled all activities of the wrestling federation till the investigation into the allegations of the wrestlers is completed.
