Former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, who had previously faced sexual harassment allegations from wrestlers, recently accused Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat of cheating to secure her spot at the Olympic Games. Singh claimed that Phogat's failure to win a medal was a form of divine punishment.

“I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in two weight categories in one day? Can the trials be paused for five hours after the weigh-in?... You didn’t win because of your wrestling skill; you got there by cheating. God has punished you for it,” Singh remarked. His comments came shortly after Congress announced Phogat as their candidate for the Haryana Assembly election from the Julana constituency.

Singh also criticized another Olympic wrestler, Bajrang Punia, alleging that he participated in the Asian Games without completing the necessary trials. He accused both Phogat and Punia of disrupting wrestling activities in Haryana, stating, "Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And yet, they stopped wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials?"

Both Phogat and Punia were key figures in the wrestlers' protest against Singh last year. Their political careers officially began when they joined the Congress party on Friday, with Phogat being fielded for the upcoming election and Punia being appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress.

Continuing his attacks, Singh insisted that he is not guilty of disrespecting women, countering, "If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda, is responsible for that."

Singh added that if requested by the BJP, he would join their campaign in Haryana, confidently stating that any BJP candidate could defeat Phogat in the election.

Phogat, on joining Congress, criticized the BJP for supporting Singh, contrasting it with the Congress' support of the wrestlers during their protests. Punia echoed these sentiments, saying, “The BJP stands with atrocities against women at Jantar Mantar, while other parties stand with us.”

BJP leaders, however, have accused the wrestlers' protest of being a politically motivated conspiracy orchestrated by Congress to undermine the BJP.