Babita Phogat wanted to become WFI president, provoked us to protest: Sakshi Malik claims

New Delhi. Olympic wrestler Sakshi Malik has made a big claim that BJP leader Babita Phogat had instigated the players to protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. She said that Babita wanted to remove Brij Bhushan and become the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) herself.

In an interview to a media channel, Malik said that Babita had held a meeting with several wrestlers. After this, she requested that there should be a protest against the alleged irregularities going on in the federation. Sakshi Malik said, Babita Phogat had her own agenda, so she instigated us to protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. She herself wanted to become the President of WFI.

She said, there are rumors that Congress supported us for this protest. But all this is a lie. Two BJP leaders helped us get permission for the protest in Haryana. It includes the names of Babita Phogat and Tirath Rana. Let us tell you that last year, women players had accused former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment. Women players protested for several days demanding an inquiry against him.

Malik also said that this movement was not completely at the behest of Phogat. It started only after her advice. He said, the protest was not started blindly. We were also aware of sexual harassment and molestation inside the federation. At the same time, I also felt that if the chief of the federation would be a female player, it would bring a lot of change. We believed that she would understand our struggle. But we did not know that she would play this kind of game with us.

Did not lose even in front of a strong opponent
He said, we thought that she would also sit with us in this protest and raise her voice. Sakshi Malik also said about Brij Bhushan that Brij Bhushan used to say that those who are protesting against him are finished. But Vinesh Phogat’s success in the Haryana assembly elections shows that Brij Bhushan’s claims were wrong. Apart from this, Vinesh went to the Olympics and did not lose even in the face of a strong opponent. If the opposition had ended, then who would have allowed Vinesh Phogat to participate in the Olympics?