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Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, 66, the six-time MP, has a penchant for hogging the limelight, often for the wrong reasons. Be it the confession on camera that he shot the killer of his friend, or slapping a wrestler on dias over a minor issue — he has cultivated his image of a strongman. He now faces multiple charges as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) by ace wrestlers of the country.
Singh has been heading WFI for over 12 years and is the vice-president of the United World Wrestling-Asia, there are many layers to the persona of the ruling party MP who represents the Kaiserganj constituency in Lok Sabha. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh likes to be called ‘shaktishali’ (strongman) and being a wrestling buff, he has spent much of his youth in the akhadas (arenas) of Ayodhya.
He has been a BJP MP for five terms and once as the SP candidate in 2009. Singh has represented Gonda and Balrampur in the past. Singh belongs to Gonda and has been vocal about his Hindutva credentials. He has been deeply associated with RSS and VHP during the temple movement in 1989. He proclaims to be a Kar Sevak, who was in Ayodhya when Babri Masjid was razed on December 6, 1992, and was among LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh to be named as accused in the demolition case.
At the same time, he was also accused of helping Dawood Ibrahim gang members, including Subhash Thakur, Jayendra Thakur and Paresh Desai, who were accused of killing Arun Gawli accomplice. Brij Bhushan was booked under TADA on allegations of his links with the D-Company. However, later, he was absolved in the Babri demolition and TADA cases.
Once a history sheeter, he now has four criminal cases of attempt to murder, rioting, and dacoity against him and does not figure on the list of gangsters anymore in UP. Singh now lords over at least 50 educational institutions in the Devi Patan range, including Bahraich, Gonda, Balrampur, Ayodhya and Shravasti districts, which are believed to be another source of his strength in UP.
He enjoys a lot of goodwill and exercises influence. At least one lakh students study pharmacy, law, agriculture and other courses in institutes patronized by him. According to a UP BJP leader, every year on Singh’s birthday (January 8), students are shortlisted via a talent search to be rewarded with Scooties, motorcycles and cash. “Singh also waives the fee of thousands of students every year,” the leader said.
However, he has started handing over his political legacy to the next generation. His younger son Prateek Bhushan is second term MLA from Gonda while his elder one Karan is an office-bearer in WFI. His wife Ketki Devi Singh is the president of Gonda Zila Panchayat. He contested and won his first Lok Sabha election in 1991. He was re-elected in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019.
LUCKNOW: Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, 66, the six-time MP, has a penchant for hogging the limelight, often for the wrong reasons. Be it the confession on camera that he shot the killer of his friend, or slapping a wrestler on dias over a minor issue — he has cultivated his image of a strongman. He now faces multiple charges as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) by ace wrestlers of the country.
Singh has been heading WFI for over 12 years and is the vice-president of the United World Wrestling-Asia, there are many layers to the persona of the ruling party MP who represents the Kaiserganj constituency in Lok Sabha. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh likes to be called ‘shaktishali’ (strongman) and being a wrestling buff, he has spent much of his youth in the akhadas (arenas) of Ayodhya.
He has been a BJP MP for five terms and once as the SP candidate in 2009. Singh has represented Gonda and Balrampur in the past. Singh belongs to Gonda and has been vocal about his Hindutva credentials. He has been deeply associated with RSS and VHP during the temple movement in 1989. He proclaims to be a Kar Sevak, who was in Ayodhya when Babri Masjid was razed on December 6, 1992, and was among LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh to be named as accused in the demolition case. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
At the same time, he was also accused of helping Dawood Ibrahim gang members, including Subhash Thakur, Jayendra Thakur and Paresh Desai, who were accused of killing Arun Gawli accomplice. Brij Bhushan was booked under TADA on allegations of his links with the D-Company. However, later, he was absolved in the Babri demolition and TADA cases.
Once a history sheeter, he now has four criminal cases of attempt to murder, rioting, and dacoity against him and does not figure on the list of gangsters anymore in UP. Singh now lords over at least 50 educational institutions in the Devi Patan range, including Bahraich, Gonda, Balrampur, Ayodhya and Shravasti districts, which are believed to be another source of his strength in UP.
He enjoys a lot of goodwill and exercises influence. At least one lakh students study pharmacy, law, agriculture and other courses in institutes patronized by him. According to a UP BJP leader, every year on Singh’s birthday (January 8), students are shortlisted via a talent search to be rewarded with Scooties, motorcycles and cash. “Singh also waives the fee of thousands of students every year,” the leader said.
However, he has started handing over his political legacy to the next generation. His younger son Prateek Bhushan is second term MLA from Gonda while his elder one Karan is an office-bearer in WFI. His wife Ketki Devi Singh is the president of Gonda Zila Panchayat. He contested and won his first Lok Sabha election in 1991. He was re-elected in 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019.
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