The recent release of Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik’s autobiography, Witness, has sparked a controversy. It has caused conflicts within the wrestling world and beyond. Malik was the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in wrestling. She made several shocking claims in her book. The wrestler accused fellow wrestlers and political figures of tarnishing the wrestlers’ protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. He was the former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
She revealed Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat’s decision to attend the Asian Games undermined the entire protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. She co-authored with sports journalist Jonathan Selvaraj, the Rio Olympics bronze medalist, who said the episode caused a rift among the trio. They were at the forefront of the “fight for justice” in the sexual harassment charges against the then-BJP MP. Interestingly, while highlighting another wrestler Babita Phogat’s “double game”.
Babita initiated and attempted to stop the initial protest in January 2023. Sakshi also disclosed that Home Minister Amit Shah was aware of the wrongdoings long before the wrestlers sat on protest. The first demonstration ended abruptly following Shah’s phone conversation with Bajrang. Sakshi has sharply slammed Babita for initially failing to support wrestlers, claiming that Babita saw the protest as an opportunity to expel former WFI chairman Brij Bhushan.
Sakshi Malik ruthless against Vinesh and Bajrang
Did Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat abandon the fight for justice for personal glory? Sakshi Malik took potshots at Punia and Vinesh for “filling their minds with greed. It was a terrible decision on Bajrang and Vinesh’s part. Whether we wanted to or not, we had become part of a movement that was bigger than us. People close to Bajrang and Vinesh had started filling their minds with greed.”
Sakshi Malik further added, “Now they were talking about this exemption from trials for the Games,” said Malik in the chapter titled ‘Cracks Start to Appear’. Nothing good came of Bajrang and Vinesh’s decision to take the exemption. Bajrang went to the Asian Games, where he didn’t win any medals, and Vinesh had to withdraw from the tournament because she suffered a knee injury and had to get surgery.”
