Explained: Why top Indian wrestlers are against Sanjay Singh's candidature for WFI president post?

India’s top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia are reportedly making efforts to stop UP Association vice president Sanjay Singh from becoming the next president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). With BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s tenure coming to an end, the WFI is set to have a new president.

Sanjay and 2010 CWG champion Anita Sheoran are the only two candidates in the fray for the top post in WFI after the withdrawal of other candidates.

On Thursday, Vinesh, Sakshi and Bajrang met Sports Minister Anurag Thakur as per the news agency PTI and were also expected to meet Home Minister Amit Shah on the same day to express their apprehensions against Sanjay’s candidature.

We take a look at who Sanjay Singh is and why wrestlers are expressing concern over him becoming the next WFI head.

Who is Sanjay Singh?

Sanjay is a loyalist of the outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan, who has been accused of sexual harassment by India’s top wrestlers, and was part of the WFI’s last executive council. He was also the national federation’s joint secretary since 2019.

As per reports he hails from Jhhansi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli district and is also a business partner of Brij Bhushan.

Why protesting wrestlers are against Sanjay Singh?

Vinesh, Sakshi and Bajrang were the biggest faces of the protests that took place in Jantar Mantar in Delhi demanding the arrest of Brij Bhushan. The protests led to an FIR against the politician after which the Delhi Police filed a chargesheet against him and the matter is currently under trial in a Delhi Court.

Having completed the maximum tenure of 12 years as WFI head, Brij Bhushan is not eligible to stand for the presidential post anymore but one of the assurances from the Sports Minister in his discussion with the wrestlers, that led to the suspension of the protest, was that neither the outgoing president’s family members nor his associates will be allowed to contest WFI elections.

Brij Bhushan, his son Karan and son-in-law Vishal Singh are not contesting for any of the posts. But with Sanjay standing for the top spot in the WFI, he is being seen as a proxy for Brij Bhushan.

In fact, it has been reported that 16 candidates from Brij Bhushan camp will be contesting all 15 posts in the WFI elections. Last month 22 out of 25 state units attended a meeting hosted by the Kaiserganj MP which only indicates that candidates from the Brij Bhushan camp have a strong chance of winning, which would effectively mean, the outgoing head controlling the national federation despite being ousted.

A source close to the wrestlers told PTI that they have relayed their concerns to Sports Minister Thakur.

“The wrestlers conveyed their misgivings about Sanjay Singh from the Brij Bhushan camp getting elected to the post of president. The wrestlers said that while they had demanded none of Brij Bhushan’s relatives should contest the WFI elections, it also implied that none of his close aides should contest the polls. And, Sanjay Singh is a close aide of Brij Bhushan. He is probably a business partner of the BJP leader. They have a problem with him becoming WFI chief,” the source said.

“In that case, Brij Bhushan’s son could have contested… what’s the difference?”

The source has also revealed that the wrestlers want Anita to become the next WFI chief.

“The wrestlers shared all these details with the minister. They want Anita Sheoran to become WFI president and this is what they are going to request the Home Minister if they get to meet him,” the source added.

Sheoran, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, is also a witness in the sexual harassment case against Brij Bhushan. Anita has filed her nomination as representative of the Odisha unit despite being from Haryana and employed with the state police.

Meanwhile, the WFI elections that were to take place on 12 August have been postponed for now after the Punjab and Haryana High Court put a stay on it.

The stay has been obtained by the ‘Haryana Wrestling Association’ after it was denied representation in the Electoral College of the WFI. ‘Haryana Amateur Wrestling Association’ has been picked as the representatives from the state.