I am not Zaira Wasim, won't budge down: Babita Phogat stands by her anti-Jamaat remark

Couple of days ago, Phogat, who is now a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, had tweeted, "Coronavirus is India's second most enemy. Jahil Jamaati is still holding the number one spot."

Phogat, who had won a gold in 2014 Commonwealth Games, faced both criticisms and support on Twitter following the remark as #SuspendBabitaPhogat and #ISupportBabitaPhogat trended simultaneously in the micro-blogging site on Friday.

Undaunted by the criticisms and 'threats', Phogat released a video where she said, "Few days ago, I had posted a few tweets. Since then, I have been receiving abuses on Facebook, Messenger and Whatsapp. Some people are even threatening me. I want to tell them that I am not Zaira Wasim so I will not budge down due to your threats. I am not going to be afraid of your threats. I am the real Babita."

"I have fought for my country and will continue to do so and speak out in future. I stand by my tweet and I have said nothing wrong. I spoke about those who had led to the spread of Coronavirus....," said Phogat who had unsuccessfully contested the Haryana assembly elections in 2019 in BJP's ticket from Dadri.

At a time the idea of social distancing was embraced both by the Centre and the state government, Tablighi Jamaat, an "orthodox" missionary, in mid-March had congregated around 3,000 people at Alami Markaz Banglewali Masjid at Nizamuddin Markaz mosque in New Delhi flouting all norms of self-isolation right under the nose of the Delhi Police which falls under Union Home Ministry Amit Shah.

Reports suggest around 2000-3000 preachers had congregated at the event of Tablighi Jamaat preachers in mid-March, just days after the Delhi government had banned the gatherings of 200 people at any place in the wake of the outbreak of Coronavirus.

Union Health Ministry has also acknowledged that the spike in COVID-19 was partly due to the Jamaat event.

Tablighi Jamaat, which operates from South Asia, is a missionary movement which mostly focuses on urging Muslims to return to practicing their religion as it was practiced during the lifetime of Islamic prophet Muhammad. 

Weeks before spreading the COVID-19 in the national capital of India and other states, the organisation held a similar gathering in Malaysia causing the spread of the deadly virus which has kept the entire world on an edge.

Why Babita Phogat referred to Zaira Wasim?

Muslim actress Zaira Wasim, who earned fame by essaying the role of Phogat in Aamir Khan starrer 'Dangal', in June 2019 announced that she was quitting Bollywood.

The actress, who made an identity in the film 'Secret Superstar', had said she could not work in an environment that "consistently interfered with my imaan, my relationship with my religion was threatened." 

In a long Facebook post, Zaira had said while Bollywood gave her huge popularity and success, she then felt that she did not belong here.

(Image Credit: Babita Phogat Facebook)