Face of Nation : Commonwealth Gold medalist-wrestler Babita Phogat and her father Mahavir Singh Phogat, who inspired Bollywood film Dangal, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, party’s general secretary in-charge of Haryana Anil Jain and its state chief Subhash Badala on Monday.
Rijiju praised Babita Phogat for making the country proud by bagging medals at several international tournaments. Mahavir Phogat, who was the chief of the Jannayak Janata Party’s sports cell, switched sides from the JJP following a split in the Indian National Lok Dal. The development comes just two months before the Haryana Assembly elections. Babita Phogat is a winner of gold medal in 2014 Common Wealth Games, Glassgow, and silver medal in 2018 Goldcoast Australia, among others.
She had also defended Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar after he stoked a controversy with his “brides from Kashmir” remarks. “Manohar Lal Khattar ji has not made any such statement which portrays women wrongly and I urge the media not to distort his statement..,” she had said in another tweet.
