“Baseless”: BJP’s Babita Phogat Dismisses Sakshi Malik’s Allegations

After wrestler Sakshi Malik claimed that BJP’s Babita Phogat had motivated several wrestlers to start a protest against Brij Bhushan Singh with the intention of taking over his position as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Phogat has responded. The BJP leader dismissed Malik’s allegations against her as “baseless.”

Phogat hit back at Malik and said, “Tomorrow, she can say that Babita made her level allegations of sexual harassment. She can also say that it was Babita Phogat who indulged in the sexual harassment. She is levelling baseless allegations again and again.”

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The BJP leader further attacked the wrestler by saying that Malik “needed” Phogat’s name to release her book. “She also needed Babita Phogat’s name to release her book. I think she loves my name…I have no posts. I have left all the posts that she is talking about.”

Phogat had earlier made a veiled dig at Malik on social media platform X, where she said, “Shine with your own character, how long will the borrowed light last? Some got assembly seats, some got posts sister, you did not get anything, I can understand your pain. In order to sell the book, she sold her integrity.”

Phogat referred to Malik’s recently released memoir titled Witness. The Indian wrestler had made the allegations first in a TV interview.

Reacting to the same, Congress member and newly elected Haryana MLA Vinesh Phogat responded, “Don’t believe everything you hear. There are always three sides to a story—yours, theirs, and the truth.”

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Sakshi Malik was at the forefront of the wrestler’s protest along with Vinesh and Bajrang Punia. According to Malik’s allegations, Babita Phogat positioned herself as an ally, suggesting that her leadership as WFI would reform the organisation.