Indian wrestler Babita Phogat has denied that she had made any communal statements on Twitter, claiming that he anger was directed at those who attacked doctors.
Babita, while speaking to India Today, added that she does not regret the statements because the actions by those who attacked the doctors and made life difficult in India was wrong.
Earlier, Twitter was abuzz with two hashtags that were doing the rounds after wrestler Babita Phogat’s controversial tweets that said that the Tablighi Jamaat was the biggest danger in India, followed by coronavirus.
This is not the first time Babita made a controversial statement. Earlier this month, the Commonwealth Games Gold medallist had tweeted in Hindi: “फैला होगा चमगादड़ से तुम्हारे वहा।हमारे हिंदुस्तान में तो जाहिल सूअरों से फैल रहा है”
(“At your place it (coronavirus) might have spread through bats, in Hindustan it spread through illiterate pigs.”).
After facing severe backlash for her tweet, Phogat took it down and put out a clarification. She said, “What else should I call those who attack doctors, police, nurses in this crisis.”
“I have no motive to write against any particular caste. I have written against the attackers and will keep writing even further,” she added.
Babita also defended Rangoli Chandel, the sister of Kangana Ranaut, for her tweet that targetted those who attacked doctors. “A Jamati died of corona when police and doctors went to check their families they were attacked and killed, secular media, make these mullas + secular media stand in a line and shoot them dead. f****k the history they may call us nazis, who cares, life is more important than fake image,” Rangoli had tweeted, which led to the suspension of her account.
Babita Phogat had also said she is no ‘Zaira Wasim’ and would not get bogged down by any kind of threat.
“Over the past few days, I posted a few tweets, after that, I started to get threatening messages on my social media handles, I would like to tell them 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 told ANI.
“I posted the tweets who spread the coronavirus, I would like to ask all of you to tell me whether it isn’t true that Tablighi Jamaat members indeed spread coronavirus, if they had not gathered, we would have gotten rid of the virus by now. I will always speak the truth, she added.
Without naming Babita, Zaira subtly tweeed on April 18, “Don’t let your ignorance be strengthened by your arrogance. When you seek the truth, seek it with humility.”