Who doesn’t know about The Phogat family? Thanks to the powerful movie – Dangal, the inspiring family has been celebrated across the globe for shattering the gender norms.
It is inspiring how Mahaveer Phogat stood against the patriarchal society, to train his daughters into world-class wrestlers. While many shamed Mahaveer and his daughters saying ‘Wrestling isn’t woman’s sports!”, the whole family never treated their daughters any less.
To take this legacy forward, last year when Babita Phogat tied the knot to her long-time wrestler beau, Vivek Suhag, they did something inspiring. The wedding happened at their ancestral village of Balali in the Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana.
Babita, a Commonwealth Games medalist-turned politician made sure that she sends across a special message to society through her marriage.
The highlight of the wedding, drawing all the attention, was when the couple decided to take eight Pheras, instead of seven. The extra eighth Phera, that couple took, was dedicated to the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ initiative, with the couple pledging to save and teach the girl child.
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In the country, where many unborn daughters are killed in their mother’s womb, the idea of the eighth Phera was applauded by many.
However, Babita wasn’t the first in the Phogat family to take such an initiative to raise awareness about saving the girl child and girl education. Her cousin Vinesh Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold in both the Commonwealth and Asian games took eight pheras at her wedding as well.