'Dabang since childhood, failed twice in class 8,' says Brijbhushan Sharan Singh while felicitating meritorious students

'I asked the student sitting in front of me to write my answer sheets....I told him to write my answer book first else I would break your legs when you go out,' Singh added.

Lucknow: The occasion was felicitation of meritorious students and one would have expected him to encourage the students to work harder. Instead Brijbhushan Sharan Singh said something exactly the opposite without realising that it could have a negative impact on them.

Firebrand BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, who faced charges of alleged ''sexual assault'' by some female wrestlers, said that he had been a 'dabang' (muscleman) since his childhood and that he had, after failing twice in the 8th standard, one of his classmates write his answer sheets by threatening to 'break' his bones if he (classmate) refused.

''Hum bachpan se dabang rahe hain...do baar 8th mein fail hue...teesri baar angrezi ke paper samne baithe hue ladke se likhwaya...hamne kaha pahle hamara likh do nahi to bahar nikalte hi haath paon tod denge'' (I have been a muscleman since childhood...failed twice in 8th...third time I asked the student sitting in front of me to write my answer book....I told him to write my answer book first else I would break your legs when you go out), Singh said while addressing the students on Friday in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gonda.

Singh did not stop there. He went on to say that he also asked the invigilator not to interfere, when the latter tried to come to the help of Singh's classmate. ''I finally managed to pass the exam scoring 57 per cent marks,'' he added as the students burst into laughter.

Ironically Singh later felicitated the meritorious students, who had cleared high school and Intermediate examinations with flying colours.

Several female wrestlers had accused Singh of ''sexually assaulting'' them and had held a dharna for several months in Delhi demanding his arrest. Singh , however, termed the allegations 'baseless' and a 'conspiracy' against him.