A photo of wrestlers Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malikkh protesting against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Delhi's Jantar Mantar is going viral with the false claim that these wrestlers who earlier criticised the anti-CAA protestors at Shaheen Bagh are now organising a demonstration against the BJP themselves. This photo is going viral with another photo showing a tweet by wrestler and BJP politician Babita Phogat who criticised protestors at Shaheen Bagh for their anti-CAA demonstration in January 2020.
BOOM found that the claim is false, and neither Vinesh Phogat nor Sakshee Malikkh made any public comments about the protest at Shaheen Bagh. The photo of them alongside Babita Phogat's tweet is being used to claim Babita Phogat was also a part of the wrestlers' protest, which is untrue.
Wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshee Malikkh, and Bajrang Punia, along with other wrestlers resumed their protest against WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused by multiple wrestlers of sexual harassment and misconduct. Responding to the wrestlers' demand for criminal action against Singh, on April 28, the Delhi Police said that they have filed two FIRs against him.
The photo is being shared with the caption, "In #Shaheenbagh, the most fingers were pointed at Muslim mothers and sisters sitting on strike. See where she is sitting today! We eat salad of 500 rupees with biryani anyway, we do not have to sit anywhere for that. Remember, no one's time is the same, everyone's time will come. So raise your voice for the right, for the one who raises voice, then someone will support you tomorrow. Press the button nicely now."
(Original text in Hindi: "#शाहीनबाग में धरने पर बैठी मुस्लिम मां बहनों पर सबसे जायदा उंगलिया फोगाट बहनों ने उठाई थी आज देखो कहां आकर बैठी है! 500रुपए का सलाद बिरयानी के साथ हम वैसे भी खा जाते है उसके लिए कही बैठना नही पड़ता. याद रखना किसी का वक्त कभी एक जैसा नहीं होता है वक्त सबका आएगा इसी लिए हक के लिए आवाज उठाओ उसके लिए जो आवाज उठाता है तब कोई कल को आपका साथ भी देगा दब गया बटन अब अच्छे से")
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
The post is also circulating on Twitter.
Click here to view the tweet and here for an archive.
FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the photo showed Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malikkh, the face of the wrestlers' protest, and neither have made any comments in the past about the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh.
A keyword search of the image of the two wrestlers led us to an article by the Tribune that carried a similar photo. The article was published on April 24, 2023 with the headline, 'Wrestlers back on dharna to demand justice.' The caption under the photo read, "Vinesh Phogat and Sakshee Malikkh during the protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui"
Click here to view.
We also found that the viral tweet by Babita Phogat was actually made on January 31, 2020, while the anti-CAA protest at Shaheen Bagh was still ongoing.
We also found that Babita Phogat has not shown her support for the current wrestlers' protest, as the viral claim suggests. She had, however, visited the protest in January on behalf of the government. According to ANI, wrestler Bajrang Punia had said, "Babita Phogat has come from the government's side for mediation. We will speak with her and then give more details."
In fact, Babita Phogat criticised the wrestlers' protest by questioning the presence of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra there. In a tweet published on April 29, she wrote, "Priyanka Vadra has reached Jantar Mantar with her personal secretary Sandeep Singh to get justice for women wrestlers, but this person himself has been accused of molesting women and calling a Dalit woman a woman of two pennies."
Read the original tweet in Hindi here:
Click here for an archive.
Vinesh Phogat even responded to this tweet and wrote, "If you are not standing for the rights of aggrieved female wrestlers, Babita sister, I request you with folded hands not to weaken our movement. It has taken years for female wrestlers to speak up against their abusers. You are also a woman, try to understand our pain."
Read the original tweet in Hindi here:
Click here for an archive.
We did not find any other tweet by Babita Phogat that suggested that she supported the wrestlers' protest. A wrestler anonymously told IANS how the protestors felt deceived by Babita Phogat. "She first forced us to sit on dharna, asked us that no political leader should come on dais. We listened to her every command and asked all the political leaders to not come meet us, but then she (Babita) politicised everything for her personal benefits and backstabbed us and left us here alone. Forget others, we got ditched by our own sister Babita Phogat."
Moreover, we looked for any tweets made by Sakshee Malikkh or Vinesh Phogat related to the anti-CAA protests or Shaheen Bagh specifically, and found no results.
