Wrestlers Protest: Sakshi Malik's Claim Gives New Twist To Case

Wrestler Sakshi Malik has made a new claim about the ongoing dispute concerning former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the wrestlers dispute. Sakshi Malik said that BJP leaders Babita Phogat and Tirtha Rana had asked them to stage a dharna. She said both these leaders told them to raise their voice against Brij Bhushan. Not only this, Babita Phogat and Tirtha Rana had also arranged permission to protest at Jantar Mantar. 

Sakshi and her husband Satyawart Kadian on Saturday posted a video of themselves on social media titled The Truth making these claims. They themselves asked the questions and then answered them.

This claim of Sakshi is important because the BJP, including Brij Bhushan, kept saying that Deepender Singh Hooda, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, was behind the dharna. At the same time, Babita Phogat herself kept talking about politics in the wrestlers' dharna. 

Tirtha Rana is also the District President of BJP from Sonipat in Haryana. Sakshi also said that such an atmosphere was created in Haridwar that there was a risk of violence had we flown the medals.

In the social media post,  Sakshi and Kadian explain why they remained silent for so long. They wrote they lacked unity. They said we could never be together. The second reason was the minor girl, who changed her statement. We are united, still she changed her statements out of fear.

We marched to Parliament to respect elders' decision

Regarding the march to Parliament on the day of its inauguration Sakshi wrote that the decision to hold Mahila Mahapanchayat on May 28 was taken by elders and Khap representatives in the panchayat held in Maham. Decision was not taken by us. We came to know that the new Parliament building was also going to be inaugurated on the same day. We marched to the Parliament in respect of the elders' decision.

Regarding their decision not to immerse medals in Haridwar, Sakshi Malik says that when we went to Haridwar to immerse the medal, a crowd gathered there and such an atmosphere was created that violence could have erupted had we immersed our medals. So we didn't immerse the medals.

Sakshi also wrote in the post that many khaps are angry with us. I request everyone with folded hands to forgive us for the mistake we have made. Heartfelt thanks to Samyukt Kisan Morcha, Bhai Chandrashekhar Ravan, Satyapal Malik, women's organizations, student organizations. Thanks also to Tirath Rana and Babita Phogat, who inspired the wrestlers to raise their voice and made them talk to the government.