Babita Phogat planned wrestlers’ protest to become federation chief: Sakshi Malik

Olympic wrestler Sakshi Malik on Monday claimed that it was BJP leader Babita Phogat who encouraged wrestlers to begin protest against Brij Bhushan Singh because she wanted to replace him as president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
In an interview to India Today TV, Malik stated that Phogat had convened a meeting with several wrestlers, urging them to protest against the alleged misconduct, including instances of molestation, within the federation.
“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 said. “There are rumours that Congress supported our protest, but that’s false. In fact, two BJP leaders helped us secure permission to protest in Haryana – Babita Phogat and Tirath Rana.”

Brij Bhushan Singh, who is also a former MP of the BJP, was last year accused of sexual assault by several female wrestlers who sat on a protest for weeks demanding a probe against him.
Malik pointed out that while the protest wasn’t entirely influenced by Phogat, it was initiated at her suggestion.
“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,” she said.
“We thought she would sit with us in the protest and raise her voice against the wrongdoing as a fellow wrestler,” she added.
In addition to her allegations against Babita Phogat, Sakshi Malik also slammed Brij Bhushan Singh for claiming that the wrestlers protesting against him were “finished”. Malik pointed to Vinesh Phogat’s recent success as clear evidence that Singh’s claims were baseless.
“Brij Bhushan made allegations that the wrestlers were finished, but Vinesh Phogat proved him wrong. She went to the Olympics and defeated one of the toughest opponents, who had been unbeaten until then. If the protests had truly ended, who would have allowed Vinesh Phogat to participate in the Olympics?” she asked.