Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik throughout a protest demonstration towards the WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
Top Olympic wrestlers have criticised BJP for fielding the son of their former federation chief in nationwide elections, regardless of his father being charged with sexually harassing feminine wrestlers.
Scores of wrestlers got here out in protest final 12 months in search of felony motion towards Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, a BJP MP.
A trial courtroom admitted a case of sexual harassment and intimidation towards Singh, who has denied wrongdoing and is presently on bail.
In the lengthy common election, Singh’s son Karan is standing as a BJP candidate in his father’s Kaiserganj seat within the politically essential Uttar Pradesh state, a seat Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has beforehand received six occasions.
“Daughters of the country have lost, Brij Bhushan won,” mentioned Sakshi Malik, a 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medallist, in a social media put up on Thursday. “By giving an election ticket to his son, they have shattered the aspirations of the country’s millions of daughters.”
BJP nationwide spokespersons didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for remark.
The countrymen are voting in a seven-phase parliamentary election that started on April 19 and ends on June 1, with Mr. Modi broadly tipped to win a 3rd time period when outcomes are introduced on June 4.
Malik give up the game in protest final 12 months and fellow Olympic medallist Bajrang Punia returned one among India’s highest civilian awards.
Punia wrote on social media on Thursday: “It is the misfortune of the country that daughters who win medals will be dragged on the streets and the son of the person who sexually exploits them will be honoured by giving him a ticket.”
Opposition Congress occasion spokesperson Jairam Ramesh mentioned the BJP had fallen to a “new low” and had no “moral compass”.
Awanish Tyagi, a state BJP spokesperson, dismissed the Opposition criticism in his feedback to ThePrint information web site and mentioned points are being created “deliberately”.
