₹2.5-cr horse, ₹20-lakh cow: Haryana visitors steal spotlight at Brij Bhushan’s Gonda birthday show

Rohtak: The controversial former chief of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and ex-MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s 69th birthday celebrations in Gonda on January 8 unfolded as a show of numbers, influence and public optics. But it was the Haryana presence, marked by extravagant gifts and stage acknowledgement, that drew the sharpest attention.

The public scale of the celebration ensured that the controversy surrounding Singh remained part of the broader conversation. Singh has faced sexual assault allegations from women wrestlers, leading to the registration of FIRs by Delhi Police in 2023. The matter has remained in the public domain since then, with Singh repeatedly denying wrongdoing.

According to people present at his birthday celebrations, Haryana’s Rewari district resident Ravi (Ravindra) Chauhan and his wife Sangeeta Chauhan arrived with a horse said to be worth around ₹2.5 crore.

The birthday programme also featured a gold chain, presented by a sportsperson, while Haryana Wrestling Association (HWA) president Ramesh Bohar gifted a Shyama-breed cow, valued at around ₹20 lakh.

Roadshow, convoy and a massive feast
The scale of the event underlined how political birthdays in north India often double up as public demonstrations of clout. The day reportedly included a roadshow and a convoy, with Singh appearing in an open jeep accompanied by supporters. Organisers also claimed that a community feast was arranged for nearly five lakh people — a figure that, if accurate, would place it among the largest such gatherings in the region.

Religious elements were part of the public programme as well. Singh visited a temple and participated in rituals, blending devotion with the political theatre that typically frames such occasions: public blessings, public presence, and public mobilisation.

The horse gift has also brought renewed focus on Ravi Chauhan’s public profile. Chauhan contested the 2014 Haryana Assembly election from Ateli as an independent candidate, securing 11,361 votes and finishing third. He had also attracted attention for his declared wealth of around ₹212 crore in his 2014 election affidavit.

The Haryana emotion
In Haryana, the controversy around Singh had once triggered intense emotion, particularly after several women wrestlers from the state were at the forefront of the allegations and protests. In many akharas and villages, the episode had split conversations — between those who saw the wrestlers’ stand as a fight for dignity and safety, and others who treated it through the lens of sport politics, rivalries and loyalties.

The images of women wrestlers sitting in protest, speaking publicly about their experiences, had also resonated strongly with families whose daughters train in akharas, pushing uncomfortable questions into everyday discussion: who holds power in sports, who is protected, and who pays the price for speaking up.

Against that backdrop, the arrival of Haryana visitors with costly gifts at a celebratory event around Singh is likely to be read in different ways — as personal loyalty by some, and as an unsettling contradiction by others. For supporters, the turnout is proof that Singh continues to command backing across state lines. For critics, it raises a harder question: what message does such public honouring send in a state where women wrestlers had once spoken with rare courage, and where many families had followed the developments with a mix of anger, pride and anxiety?

The event has reopened an old wound in public memory: the moment when Haryana’s daughters in wrestling forced the country to listen — and the uncomfortable reality that the politics around sport often moves on faster than the emotions of those who live inside it.