Anurag Kumar
About 15 kilometers from the busy town of Karsevakpuram, which was the hub of the Ram Temple movement for decades, there is a beautiful white house. The sprawling two-story building is surrounded by well-kept lawns, and the driveway is lined with expensive cars and a steady stream of people who want to see the owner.
Six-time Member of Parliament (MP) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has run his kingdom for almost 30 years from this house in the middle of Nawabganj town on the other side of the Saryu river. In this part of the world, where there aren’t many businesses or jobs and where the law isn’t always followed, Singh’s image as a strongman is enough to settle local disputes and move administrative processes along.
Singh, who is 66 years old, has used a mix of religion, crime, and political power for decades to bully his opponents and keep control of an area known for its baahubalis. But now, the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is facing the toughest task of his career in a place that is very different from Uttar Pradesh politics. Singh, who is also the head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), has been accused by a number of India’s best wrestlers of sexual harassment and intimidation. Delhi Police have now made a First Information Report (FIR) against him, and public opinion now seems to be turning against him.
Even though anger is growing, political experts say the leader’s political career may not be over yet. They say this is because he has a vice-like grip on the political system in an area where weak state power has historically led to parallel structures run by strongmen.
“It’s true that Singh has a lot of fans in the area, and his involvement with the Ram temple movement has made him even more popular in the area that borders Ayodhya. “But it’s hard to guess what will happen with him in politics,” said Irshad Ilmi, a political expert.
Singh was born in Nawabganj on January 8, 1957. When he was in his teens, he joined the akhada and became a well-known kushtigir in the area. His political career started when he was a student at Ayodhya’s Saket College. During this time, the holy town was in a lot of trouble because the Ram temple movement was slowly gaining steam. This created a vortex of power in which young men like Singh were able to become leaders.
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In 1991, when the Ram temple movement was at its height, Singh ran for the Lok Sabha for the first time as a member of the BJP. He beat Anand Singh, who was running for the Congress, by 102984 votes and won. That year, the BJP also won its first majority in Uttar Pradesh, making its first government in India’s most-populous state.
The following year, the Babri Masjid was demolished and the administration of Kalyan Singh was dismissed. But the ensuing turmoil was advantageous for Singh, who proclaimed in public that he was one of the men who helped bring down the 16th-century structure. “I was the first individual from the region to be arrested by Mulayam Singh during the movement. I was also the first individual the CBI arrested after the controversial structure was demolished, he said. Singh, along with senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and former chief minister Kalyan Singh, was accused in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation, but was cleared in 2020.
This ability to portray himself as a fiery Hindu leader – he was frequently seen with seers and leaders of the temple movement – helped him emerge relatively unscathed from his other major legal trouble in the 1990s. In 1992, he was also charged under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for allegedly aiding gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s associates. He spent several months in Tihar prison before his 1999 release. During this period, however, his influence did not diminish.
In the 15 years that followed, Singh consolidated his power and became indispensable in a political environment where electoral support was becoming increasingly fragmented and parties struggled to gain outright majorities, making every seat (and every baahubali) crucial. He utilized this authority to occasionally contest decisions made by the state government. Locals in Gonda recall that he resisted the then-chief minister Mayawati’s attempt to rename the city Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan Nagar. “He (Singh) challenged Mayawati by undertaking a ‘padyatra’.” Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee had to intervene and contact Mayawati to withdraw her decision, according to Angad Singh, a resident of Gonda. In anticipation of the 2009 general election, sensing a shift in the political climate, he transferred from the BJP to the Samajwadi Party and won his seat. He rejoined the BJP prior to the 2014 elections.
Wrestling was essential to this allure. Every event he hosted at his alma mater in Nandini Nagar, Gonda, became a significant political event. He would arrive in a caravan of SUVs, accompanied by 20 to 30 devotees. As he sat in his high chair, the officials bowed to him, caressed his feet, and chanted “Netaji zindabad” A steady stream of sweets and food would be served to attendees, while throngs of individuals pushed their way to the stage to take selfies and brush his feet. Singh frequently halted matches by waving his hand, yelling at wrestlers, offering advice, threatening to eject parents, and even attacking referees if he believes they botched a move. As it was outside of the akhada, his word was law.
“In fact, the wrestling events at Gonda allow him (Singh) to meet and greet his supporters, voters, and fans, and it also helps him strengthen his position in the region,” Singh explained. Not only the average citizen, but also MLAs, chairpersons, and panchayat administrators from neighboring districts ensured their presence.
This combination of crime and politics helped him maintain control over Gonda and may have influenced his defiant posture after the wrestlers made their allegations public for the first time in January. Singh enjoyed letting others know he was fearless. In an interview with a website in 2022, he confessed to having murdered a man. His 2019 affidavit detailed four pending cases, including attempted homicide and injury to a public servant. However, with the Delhi Police filing a FIR, the Supreme Court monitoring the case, and the nation’s eyes on his next move, he may be confronting his greatest obstacle yet.
