NEW DELHI: Commonwealth Games gold medalist wrestler Babita Phogat has been slammed on social media for tweets attacking Muslims over the spread of coronavirus.
The wrestler-turned politician stirred controversy on 15 April with her series of tweets criticising Muslims by saying “ignorant Jamaatis.”
While another similar tweet, she said, “It might have spread through bats there, in India illiterate pigs are spreading the virus”. She used the hashtag #NizamuddinIdiot.
Enough with hate
As the controversy grew, users on the Internet want Twitter to take note to ban the 30-year-old wrestler and soon hashtag #SuspendBabitaPhogat began trending.
I am no Zaira Wasim
Speaking in Hindi, Babita, who also has a Bollywood biopic to her name defended her statements against the Tablighi Jamaat.
In a video posted to Twitter Friday, she said, she is the “real” Babita Phogat and will continue to stand for her country.
She even dragged the national award-winning Kashmiri actress Zaira Wasim and said, “I am no Zaira Wasim, I won’t bow down to your threats.”
Zaira played the role of Babita’s sister Geeta in Dangal. The young actress quit the entertainment industry in 2019 to follow Islam.
“I stand by my tweets, I wrote nothing wrong,” the Commonwealth Gold-medalist told news agency ANI.
Calls to suspend Babita’s Twitter handle comes a day after actress Kangana Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel’s official Twitter account was suspended.
Notably, Babita, who joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year, also backed Chandel for her anti-Islamic tweet.