'Kitab bechne ke chakkar mei ...': Babita Phogat's veiled dig at Sakshi Malik's memoir

NEW DELHI: After Sakshi Malik accused Babita Phogat of pursuing her own agenda during the wrestlers protest, the BJP leader took a veiled dig at the Olympian, saying, " kitab bechne ke chakkar mei imaan bech diya (integrity was sold to sell the book)." The post was in reference to Sakshi's recently released autobiography 'Witness'.

"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," the BJP leader wrote on X.

खुद के किरदार से जगमगाओं
उधार की रोशनी कब तक चलेगी॥

किसी को विधानसभा मिला किसी को मिला पद
दीदी तुमको कुछ न मिला हम समझ सकते है तुम्हारा दर्द।।

किताब बेचने के चक्कर में अपना ईमान बेच गई।

— Babita Phogat (@BabitaPhogat) October 23, 2024

After her memoir released, Sakshi reportedly told a TV channel that Babita had her own agenda of becoming WFI president. “Babita Phogat approached us with the idea of protesting against Brij Bhushan Singh because she had her own agenda—she wanted to become the WFI president,” Malik said.

Meanwhile, Mahavir Phogat, responded to allegations made by Sakshi against his daughter Babita Phogat . "Sakshi Malik is speaking the language of the Congress," he said. He suggested that Babita advocated for players' agreements and that he had also supported the protests. He claimed that after the elections, statements from Priyanka Gandhi and Deepender Hooda are being issued through Sakshi.

Meanwhile, Vinesh Phogat also responded without naming Sakshi Malik. "Don’t believe everything you hear. There are always three sides to a story—yours, theirs, and the truth," the newly elected Haryana MLA said.

"What kind of greed? Ask them. As an athlete, if standing up for fellow athletes and my sisters is greed, then I consider it good. If it’s greed that pushes us to bring medals for the country at the Olympics, then that greed will stay with us until our last breath," she added.

Earlier this week, Sakshi stirred the pot after she claimed in her memoir that Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia took exemptions from the trials for the 2023 Asian Games. This, according to her, downplayed the wrestlers' movement that was going on against against the then-president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and former BJP MP Brij Bhushan.