Sakshi Malik declared that Babita Phogat had assembled wrestlers for a meeting, urging them to protest against Wrestling Federation of India’s alleged misconduct. Olympic wrestler Sakshi Malik has declared that Babita Phogat of the Bharatiya Janata Party was the one who prompted wrestlers to begin the protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan singh, aiming to take over his position as president of the Wrestling Federation of India or WFI, India Today reported.
In an interview with India Today TV on Monday, Sakshi Malik also declared that Babita Phogat had gathered several wrestlers for a meeting, prompting them to protest against the federation’s alleged misconduct, including cases of offense.
“Babita Phogat approached us with the idea of protesting against Brij Bhushan singh because she had her own agenda- She wanted to become the WFI president,” India Today quoted Sakshi Malik as telling.
the Olympic wrestler added ” There are rumours that Congress supported protest. but that is false. In fact, two BJP leaders helped us secure permission to protest in Haryana-Babita Phogat and Tirath Rana,”
Sakshi Malik, who currently released her book “Witness.’ was one of the three prominent faces of the prolonged protest against Brij Bhushan singh. Sakshi Malik told their protest developed cracks when ” people close to ” Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat began to fill their minds with “greed” news agency PTI reported.
Protest by Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat
The three had supposed that Brij Bhushan, the ex. head of the Wrestling Federation of India, sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenancy. The case is still being heard in Delhi court.
The ad-hoc committee, that took over the administration of wrestling after WFI’s suspension, excused Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat from the 2023 Asian Games trials but as per suggestion get from her colleagues Sakshi Malik decided not to seek the favour.
In an interview with India Today Sakshi Malik identify that while the protest was not entirely influenced by Babita Phogat, as it was initiated at her suggestion.
She told ” It’s not that we blindly followed her, but we were aware that there were serious issues like sexual harassment and molestation within the federation. We believed that having a woman in charge, especially someone like Babita Phogat, who is also a sportsperson, would bring positive change. we trusted that she would understand our struggles. But we never anticipated that she would play such a big game with us,”
The protest ended after the wrestlers’ march towards the new parliament Building was stop by the police on 28th May 2023.
Earlier to this month Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia joined the congress party before the Haryana assembly elections. The former contested and won from the Julana constituency while the latter was made head of the party’s national farmer’s unit.
Before the political career, Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the 50kg category Olympic finals in Paris for being 100gm overweight.
