NEW DELHI: It was a battle of two Olympians, one from women’s wrestling’s most celebrated family and the other who gave India the first Olympic medal in women’s wrestling.
Babita Phogat and Sakshi Malik, though belonging to different weight categories as wrestlers, found themselves grappling with each other verbally.
It all started with Sakshi, an Olympic bronze medallist, and her husband Satyawart Kadian releasing a video statement saying that they sat on the protest with the help of Babita Phogat.
The Truth.#WrestlersProtest pic.twitter.com/eWHRpOSwD9
— Sakshee Malikkh (@SakshiMalik) June 17, 2023
In the 11-minute video statement, Sakhi and her wrestler husband Satyawart said that permission for the first protest in January was granted with the help of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Tirtha Rana and Babita Phogat.
Babita, however, denied getting any permission from the Delhi Police for the wrestlers to protest. Terming Sakshi and Satyawart as puppets of Congress, Babita said that the time has come to tell the exact intention of their protest.
“Yesterday, I felt very sad and laughed too when I was watching the video of my younger sister (Sakshi) and her husband,” Babita tweeted. “First of all, I want to make it clear that the permission paper that was shown by the younger sister did not have my signature. There is no proof of my consent for their protest,” she added.
एक कहावत है कि
ज़िंदगी भर के लिये आपके माथे पर कलंक की निशानी पड़ जाए।
बात ऐसी ना कहो दोस्त की कह के फिर छिपानी पड़ जाएँ ।
मुझे कल बड़ा दुःख भी हुआ और हँसी भी आई जब मैं अपनी छोटी बहन और उनके पतिदेव का विडीओ देख रही थी , सबसे पहले तो मैं ये स्पष्ट कर दूँ की जो अनुमति का काग़ज़… https://t.co/UqDMAF0qap— Babita Phogat (@BabitaPhogat) June 18, 2023
“I had been saying from day one that have faith in the Prime Minister and the judicial system of the country. The truth will definitely come out,” the World Championship medallist added.
“As a female player, I was always with all the players of the country, but I was not in favour of protest, since the beginning. I repeatedly told all the wrestlers that meet the PM or Home Minister for the solution,” she added.
ALSO READ: Sakshi Malik Reveals: Guess who fuelled wrestler’s protests
By naming and tagging the Twitter handles of Deepender Hooda, Priyanka Gandhi and the Congress party, Babita said the wrestlers wanted the solution from those who are accused in cases of rape and other criminal acts.
She further said the people of the country have now recognised the faces of the opposition and now they should answer how they played with the emotions of soldiers, farmers and women wrestlers.
ALSO READ: Wrestlers’ Protest: Delhi Police files charge sheet against ex-WFI chief
“Today, when this video of yours is in front of everyone, the people of the country will now understand that on the auspicious day of the inauguration of the new Parliament House, your protest and the matter of floating the medal won for the nation in the Ganges was like embarrassing the country,” Babita, who is Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha co-in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, tweeted.
“Sister, you might eat bread made of almond flour, but I and the people of my country eat bread made of wheat and this everyone understands. The people of the country have understood that you have become a puppet in the hands of Congress. Now the time has come that you should tell your real intention because now people are asking you questions,” the three-time Commonwealth Games medallist further added.
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Hours after Babita’s tweets, Sakshi once again took to Twitter and blamed the BJP leaders for using the wrestlers.
“In the video, we taunted Tirath Rana and Babita Phogat about how they were trying to use wrestlers for their selfishness and how, when the wrestlers were in trouble, they went and sat on the lap of the government,” she said.
“We are definitely in trouble, but our sense of humour should not become so weak that we cannot even laugh at the jokes of the powerful,” she tweeted.
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