Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia slam ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan's son Karan getting BJP ticket from Kaisergang

Ace Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik on Thursday slammed former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's son Karan getting a ticket to contest the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections, calling it a "defeat for India's daughters".

Malik, who had won bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics, was among the key members of the wrestlers' agitation against Brij Bhushan last year after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh's Kaiserganj was accused of sexually harassing several female wrestlers during his tenure as WFI chief.

Besides Malik, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang Punia and two-time World Championships bronze medallist Vinesh Phogat had also participated in the protest that began in New Delhi's Jantar Mantar and later spread to other cities including Uttarakhand's Haridwar.

Ruling party BJP announced Karan Bhushan as its candidate for the Kaiserganj constituency to replace his father.

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“Country’s daughters have lost, Brij Bhushan has won,” Malik wrote in a post on X, reacting to the development.

“We put our careers on the line, slept on the streets enduring heat and rain. Brij Bhushan hasn’t been arrested till date. We had not asked for anything other than justice to be delivered

“Forget arrest, his son has been now been awarded a ticket that has shattered the morale of crores of the country’s daughers,” Malik added, tagging both Vinesh and Bajrang in the post.

Screengrab of former Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik's post on X in which she slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for awarding a ticket to ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's son Karan

Malik also questioned the Narendra Modi-led government on their promise of taking action against Brij Bhushan, against whom the Delhi police had filed an FIR at the height of the wrestlers' protest last year, accusing the Centre of going weak on the matter.

“Ticket will be awarded to one family, is the government really this weak in front of one man?”

“They only seek votes on Lord Ram’s name, what about following his teachings?” Malik added.

Bajrang joined Malik in slamming the party's decision to award Brij Bhushan's son a ticket.

“BJP considers itself to be the largest party in the world but despite having lakhs of karyakartas, chose to give the ticket to Brij Bhushan’s son, that too at a time when it has gone silent on the Prajwal Revanna controversy,” Bajrang wrote on X.

“There’s a saying during agitations in Punjab and Haryana, ‘Don’t depend on the government, your well-being is in your hands’,”

“It’s the country’s misfortune that medal-winning daughters are dragged through streets and the one who sexually harassed them has his son honoured with a ticket,” Bajrang added.