BJP’s Babita, not Congress, was behind wrestlers’ protest: Sakshi

New Delhi: Olympic bronze medalist wrestler Sakshi Malik has revealed that it was the ruling party’s Babita Phogat not the Congress party, as was alleged by Bjij Bhushan Sharan Singh camp, who was the main brain behind starting a protest at Jantar Mantar. “Babita Phogat came to us with the notion of demonstrating against Brij Bhushan Singh because he wanted to take over as president of the WFI. Rumour has it that Congress backed our protest, but that is untrue. Actually, Babita Phogat and Tirath Rana (another Haryana BJP leader), two BJP leaders, assisted us in obtaining authorisation to demonstrate in Haryana.” Sakshi, in her newly released book “Witness”, has revealed the truth behind protest.

Sakshi, who won bronze at the Rio Olympics in 2016, wrote that “one of the Phogat sisters, Babita, wanted to succeed Brij Bhushan as head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).”. Sakshi asserted that Babita demanded a meeting with top wrestlers and exhorted everyone to oppose WFI’s purported wrongdoing, including the allegations of molestation against Brij Bhushan, the organisation’s then-chief.

Sakshi further explained that Babita did not have a direct effect on the protest; rather, it was started at her recommendation. “We knew that there were major problems in the WFI, like 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 game with us.”

Sakshi stated that the other wrestlers and I had assumed that Babita would join us in the protest and speak out against the misconduct as a fellow wrestler. Additionally, Sakshi accused Babita, a former gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games who lost to Sombir Sangwan in the 2019 Haryana legislative elections, of not acting in the protesters’ and wrestlers’ best interests. It must be recalled that Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and Bajrang Punia, the bronze medalists from the Tokyo Olympics, had spent the night on the streets during their sit-in at Jantar Mantar. Brij Bhushan, the WFI’s then-chief, was accused of sexually harassing female grapplers. The wrestlers then were not allowed by Delhi Police to march in the direction of the new Parliament building.

Big blunder

Sakshi, however, feels that Vinesh and Bajrang’s acceptance of an exemption from the 2023 Asian
Games in Hangzhou damaged the image of theentire protest. She acknowledges that “nothing good came” from her colleagues adopting the ad-hoc committee’s decision, calling it the result of “greed”.. “Once more, the old, self-centred style of thinking was taking over. ‘Greed’ had begun to flood the brains of those near Bajrang and Vinesh,” wrote Sakshi, adding: “They were now discussing this exemption from trials for the Games. Their decision to accept the exemption didn’t work out well. Theirchoice severely damaged our protest’s reputation.We were in a position where a lot of fans began to believe that we were participating in the demonstration for personal gain,” the 32-year-old further revealed.

“In retrospect, I realise that Vinesh and Bajrang’s main objective was to overthrow Brij Bhushan’s rule, but I also made the error of assuming that Babita had that as her only goal,” wrote Sakshi. It is important to mention here that both Vinesh and Bajrang joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in the run-up to the Haryana legislative assembly elections. Vinesh, in fact, emerged victorious from the Julana seat after being disqualified from the women’s 50 kg wrestling gold medal bout in Paris because she was 100 grams overweight.

Sexually harassed

In her memoir, Sakshi details some of the most tragic periods of her career.
Malik, who announced retirement from the sport a few months ago, made a shocking accusation of sexual harassment against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan. “It was during an event at the 2012 Asian Junior Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Brij Bhushan attempted to sexually harass her in his hotel room.
She was sent to Brij Bushan’s hotel room under the guise of talking to her parents over the phone. However, what transpired later on turned out to be one of the most horrific events in her life. “Brij Bhushan put me in touch with my parents. It seemed harmless. When I spoke to them, telling them about my match and my medal, I remember thinking that perhaps nothing unsavoury might happen after all. But right after I ended the call, he tried to molest me while I was seated on his bed. I pushed him off and started to cry,” Sakshi has written.

She further claimed: “After that, he took a step back. I believe he knew that I wouldn’t comply with his demands. He began by saying, “Papa jaise”, or “as a father would,” after putting his arms around me. However, I was aware that it wasn’t. I sobbed as I hurried back to my room from his.”

A Delhi court is at present hearing the case againstbBrij Bhushan.

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