NEW DELHI: In an ugly turn of events, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik and former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Babita Phogat on Sunday engaged in a bitter war of words on social media over the former’s claim that it was Babita, the wrestler-turned-BJP politician, who had originally taken permission on behalf of the grapplers to sit on a protest against Wrestling Federation of India’s (WFI) ex-president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, before “changing her stance”.
In a video posted on her official Twitter handle, Sakshi, along with her grappler husband Satyawart Kadian, had on Saturday accused Babita of siding with the Centre during the protest. It prompting a sharp rebuttal from Babita who accused the reigning CWG champion in women’s 62kg category of having become a “Congress puppet”.\
Sakshi had also named another BJP leader from Haryana, Teerath Rana, in her 11-minute long video address, saying that he too had helped in taking police permission for the sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar here. She claimed that the agitation was in no way politically motivated or inspired by Congress.
"In the video (posted on Saturday), we had commented on how Teerath Rana and Babita Phogat were trying to use wrestlers for their selfish motives and how when the wrestlers were in trouble, they opted to sit on the lap of the government. We are definitely in trouble, but the sense of humour should not become so weak that a joke cracked on the powerful could not be understood," Sakshi tweeted on Sunday.
Babita, who had tried to broker a peace deal between the protesting wrestlers and the government when they had originally sat on a protest in January, tweeted a long reply to Sakshi and claimed that she had nothing to do with their agitation since she was against the idea from day one.
"It pained me and also made me laugh when I saw the video posted by my younger sister and her husband. Let me make it clear that the letter, seeking police permission, does not carry my signature. I have nothing to do with that," she wrote, denying her role in fuelling the protest.
"From day one, I was not in favour of any protest or demonstration. I have maintained that I have faith in the PM and the judiciary and the truth will come out. I repeatedly told them to meet Prime Minister or Home Minister for a solution but you saw solution with Deepnder Hooda, Congress and Priyanka Gandhi, who themselves were accompanied by rape-accused people. Your video will make people understand how shameful it was on your part to start a march on the inauguration day of the new Parliament building and then talk about immersing medals in the river Ganga. People of this country have understood that you have become a Congress' puppet. Now is the time that you reveal your real motive because people are asking questions now," she further stated.
Meanwhile, Rana denied the allegations that he had used the wrestlers for selfish motives.