Won't get threatened: Babita Phogat defends her remarks against Islamic sect

Wrestler and Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Babita Phogat has defended her controversial remarks on Twitter against the Islamic sect - Tablighi Jamaat - that held a congregation in Delhi last month setting off India's biggest cluster of coronavirus cases.

"I stand by my tweets, I wrote nothing wrong," the Commonwealth Gold-medalist said.

The 30-year-old wrestler-turned politician claimed that she was getting threats after she had posted a series of tweets on the Islamic sect.

"Over the past few days, I posted a few tweets (on Tablighi Jamaat). After that, I started getting threats on my social media handles. I would like to say that I am no Zaira Wasim. I would not get threatened.... I have always fought for my country. I stand by my tweets.... I wrote nothing wrong," Phogat said.

Actor Zaira Wasim had played the role of Babita's sister - Geeta - in Dangal, the biopic based on the life of Phogat sisters and their father Mahavir Singh Phogat, also a wrestler and their coach. Last year, she had announced her exit from Bollywood that triggered a huge debate.

#SuspendBabitaPhogat trended on Twitter as many users criticised her remarks. Some of her supporters, however, countered the trend with the hashtag- "#IsupportBabitaPhogat".

Users wrote, “Twitter is against all the religious hate and crimes by its users. So I believe @TwitterIndia must suspend @BabitaPhogat from here.” Another wrote, “Why most of the known people are being islamophobic.”

Phogat, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party last year and contested the national election from Haryana, also backed Kangana Ranaut's sister - Rangoli Chandel - after her Twitter account was blocked over a post on the Islamic sect. 

Earlier this month, she had tweeted about the Markaz Nizamuddin incident, where over 2,000 people had gathered for a religious event. The 30-year-old wrestler, communalised the entire incident through a tweet, “At your place it might have spread through bats, in India it spread through illiterate pigs.”

She even used a derogatory hashtag #NizamuddinIdiots.