Olympic wrestler Sakshi Malik said Monday that BJP leader Babita Phogat, who wished to succeed Brij Bhushan Singh as president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), was the one who urged wrestlers to start protesting against him.
“Phogat called a meeting with a number of wrestlers, urging them to protest against the alleged misconduct, including instances of molestation, within the federation,” Malik said in an interview with India Today TV.
“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,” Malik stated. There are unfounded rumors that Congress backed our demonstration. Actually, Babita Phogat and Tirath Rana, two BJP leaders, assisted us in obtaining authorization to demonstrate in Haryana.”
Last year, a number of female wrestlers accused Brij Bhushan Singh, a former BJP MP, of sexual assault. They sat on a protest for weeks, seeking an investigation into the allegations.
Although Phogat didn’t start the protest, Malik noted that she was the one who suggested it.
We knew that there were major problems in the federation, like as sexual harassment and molestation, but it’s not like we mindlessly followed her. We thought that having a woman in leadership, particularly a female athlete like Babita Phogat, would be beneficial. We believed she would be sympathetic to our plight. However, we didn’t think she would play such a significant role with us,” she remarked.
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