Wrestlers’ protest | Babita Phogat has tried to weaken our protest, says Sakshi Malik

Sakshi Malik accused BJP leader Babita Phogat of trying to use the wrestlers for selfish motive and weaken their protest.

Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik on June 18 accused BJP leader and former Commonwealth Games gold medallist grappler Babita Phogat of trying to use the wrestlers for selfish motive and weaken their protest.

Sakshi and her husband Satyawart Kadian had also posted a video on Saturday alleging that it was Babita and another BJP leader Teerath Rana who had initially taken permission for the grapplers to protest at Jantar Mantar but later started advising them that the platform should not be used by parties for political purposes.

Rana, however, said that neither he or Babita tried to initially instigate the protest and then weaken it, saying the wrestlers are the pride of the nation and the respect of the sportspersons is uppermost on the mind of the BJP.

"Look, wrestlers are the pride of the nation and the respect of sportspersons is uppermost on the mind of the BJP, and I also respect them a lot. I have always supported sportspersons," said Rana in a video.

The country's top wrestlers including Sakshi, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia have accused outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment and demanded his arrest.

Satyawart and Sakshi also furnished a letter, which allegedly showed Babita and Rana had taken permission from the Jantar Mantar police station for the wrestlers to stage a sit-in.

Sakshi, in a tweet on Sunday, wrote, "In the video (posted on Saturday), we had taunted Teerath Rana and Babita Phogat that how they were trying to use wrestlers for their selfishness and how when the wrestlers were in trouble, they went and sat on the lap of the government.