Even as investigation is underway in the Parliament attack case, the discourse around the issue since Wednesday (13th December) has been controversial to say the least.
Joining the discourse was Boxer Vijender Singh who in a controversial post wrote that seeing the scenes in Parliament, he remembered freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.
आज संसद में जो हुआ उसको देख कर भगत सिंह की याद आ गई 🇮🇳
— Vijender Singh (@boxervijender) December 13, 2023
On 13th December, two accused breached inside the Parliament and jumped into the Lok Sabha hall from the visitor’s gallery releasing a yellow smoke canister.
The accused, identified as Manoranjan and Sagar Sharma, were nabbed by the members of Parliament. Two more accused outside the Parliament released smoke canisters and chanted slogans in protest.
Vijender Singh through his post has likened the attack to freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s attack in the British-ruled Central Assembly in Delhi in 1929.
The Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) headed by Chandrasekhar Azad decided to rock the British Raj by hurling two bombs in the Central Assembly and throwing in pamphlets explaining their motive.
However, what Bhagat Singh and his associates did was revolutionary in that it was in protest of an external tyrannical force ruling the India that was the British Empire.
Whereas what happened on Wednesday, 13th December, was an attack on the Indian Parliament against the representatives of the people and the Indian democracy at large. The name of the freedom fighter has also been used by the accused for their criminal activity. Police sources mentioned that all accused were associated with a social media page ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club.’
The Olympic-medallist is drawing ire all over social media platform X for drawing parallels between a revered nationalist and a set of criminals.
A netizen corrected the boxer saying, “did you write Bhagat Singh in place of Afzal Guru?” Afzal Guru was the mastermind behind the 2001 Parliament attack resulting in the death of 9 people.
अफजल गुरु की
— 🇮🇳 Alok (@alokdubey1408) December 13, 2023
जगह
भगतसिंह लिख दिया क्या…?? pic.twitter.com/ViIFMYmDdT
Another used asked, “Really? You are comparing Bhagat Singh with these terrorists?”
Really ?
— Sumit (@sumitsaurabh) December 14, 2023
You are comparing Bhagat singh with these useless terrorist ?
Vijender Singh had joined the Congress party and contested Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from South Delhi constituency, which he lost to BJP MP’s Ramesh Bhiduri.
Vijender had also participated extensively in the farmers’ protest in 2020 and joined demonstrations at Singhu border against farm laws. He had threatened to return his Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, the country’s highest sporting honour.
If the government doesn't withdraw the black laws, I'll return my Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award – the highest sporting honour of the nation: Boxer Vijender Singh #FarmLaws https://t.co/8Q5fVEmncC pic.twitter.com/imTATDZCei
— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2020
In June 2022, the boxer defended secessionist lyrics of Sidhu Moosewala’s song “SYL” which was released after the latter’s demise. In January this tear, he also joined Rahul Gandhi on his ‘Bharat Jodo’ yatra march.
