Olympic bronze medal-winning former wrestler Sakshi Malik made a sensational allegation against wrestler-turned-politician Babita Phogat that she wanted to become the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) by replacing then wrestling body head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
"In hindsight, while I know that ending Singh's reign was the primary goal for Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, I made the mistake of thinking that that was Babita's sole intention too," she added.
"She (Babita) didn't just want to just get rid of Singh, she also wanted to replace him," Sakshi said. Babita could not be reached immediately for a comment on this assertion.
Sakhi releases her book 'Witness
Sakshi, who was one of the three prominent faces of the prolonged protest against Singh over the alleged sexual harassment case, made this statement in her recently-released book 'Witness'.
She said their protest developed cracks when "people close to" Bajrang and Vinesh began to fill their minds with "greed".
Sakshi also alleged that former wrestler Babita Phogat, who is now a BJP politician, had selfish motives even though she portrayed herself as a well-wisher for the protesting trio.
The three had alleged that Sharan Singh, the former head of the Wrestling Federation of India, sexually harassed women wrestlers during his tenure. The case is still being heard in a Delhi court.
The ad-hoc committee, that took over the administration of wrestling after WFI's suspension, exempted Bajrang and Vinesh from the 2023 Asian Games trials but Sakshi decided not to seek the favour as suggested by her colleagues.
Eventually, Sakshi did not compete, while Vinesh suffered an injury before the Games and Bajrang failed to win a medal in Hangzhou.
People close to Bajrang and Vinesh had started filling their minds with greed: Sakshi
"The old way of thinking selfishly was taking over once again. The people close to Bajrang and Vinesh had started filling their minds with greed. Now they were talking about this exemption from trials for the Games," Sakshi wrote in the book.
"Nothing good came of Bajrang and Vinesh's decision to take the exemption. Their decision badly hurt the image of our protest. It put us in a situation where many supporters started to think that we were actually in the protest for selfish reasons," the 32-year-old said.
The protest ended after the wrestlers' march towards the new Parliament Building was halted by the Police on May 28, 2023. Both Vinesh and Bajrang joined the Congress party before the Haryana assembly elections earlier this month.
(With PTI inputs)
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