An international gold-medal winner star wrestler Babita Phogat is under fire for her tweets targeted towards the Muslim community over the spread of the dreaded COVID-19.
Her comments towards the largest religious minority in India are being criticised so much so that a hashtag calling Twitter to ban wrestler Babita Phogat on Twitter is trending.
Notably, Babita had used a derogatory statement towards Muslims on her Twitter account in which she claimed the Tablighi jamaat to be a bigger problem than the coronavirus crisis in the country.
कोरोना वायरस भारत की दूसरे नंबर की सबसे बड़ी समस्या है।
जाहिल जमाती अभी भी पहले नंबर पर बना हुआ है।#jahiljamati
— Babita Phogat (@BabitaPhogat) April 15, 2020
The twitter trend comes a day after Rangoli Chandel’s official Twitter account was suspended by the microblogging website.
Chandel, who is the sister of actress Kangana Ranaut, was attacked by netizens after she advocated the use of violence against Muslims. She accused the entire community of killing the doctors and misbehaving with them.
It is worth highlighting that there have indeed been some attacks against healthcare professionals but Chandel did not specify what she was talking about. Meanwhile, some videos which have gone viral on the internet showing violence by Muslims are found to be fake and lacking authenticity.
While Phogat’s account has not been suspended yet, many people on the Internet want Twitter to take note and suspend her account. Some on the other hand are also in support of the 30-year-old. Phogat later released a video message on her Twitter account saying that she hasn’t done anything wrong.
यदि आप बबीता फोगाट को सपोर्ट करते हैं तो उन तक यह बात जरूर पहुंचा दीजिए और उनको बोलिए ध्यान से कान खोल कर सुन लें। pic.twitter.com/gqec3lQwPE
— Babita Phogat (@BabitaPhogat) April 17, 2020
Earlier, Phogat had used “Nizamuddin Idiots hashtag” in her post, purportedly calling the gathered people “illiterate pigs”.
After this, the wrestler was heavily criticised. In addition, her account was blocked and was opened only after the tweet was deleted.
However, Babita defended her comment and added that those pelting stones on doctors, who are putting their own lives at risk, should be hanged.
“I still stand by my tweet, I have neither said anything wrong nor targeted any religion. People are pelting stones on doctors who are protecting others while putting their own lives at risk. Such people should be hanged,” Phogat said as quoted by ANI.
Phogat recently joined India’s ruling political party- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).