- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Sonali Phogat, an actor and leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), died of a heart attack in the coastal state of Goa on Monday (22) after she had gone there with some of her employees. She was 42.
Phogat, who was born in Hisar in the northern state of Haryana, had served as a national vice president of the BJP’s women’s wing — Mahila Morcha. She did her education from an institute in Noida in Uttar Pradesh.
She took part in the state election of Haryana in 2019 from Adampur constituency in Hisar on the BJP’s ticket but lost to the Congress’s Kuldeep Bishnoi who recently joined the BJP. Bishnoi, who has resigned as a member of the state legislature, recently met Phogat amid speculation that she would be fielded by the saffron party in the bye-election in Adampur.
Phogat’s rise to fame was through her TikTok videos and had a big following on the app. She also made her television debut as an anchor in 2006, a couple of years before joining the BJP. Her acting debut happened in 2016 with the television show ‘Amma: Ek Maa Jo Laakhon Ke Liye Bani Amma’. She was featured in the web series named ‘The Story Of Badmashgarh’ in 2019. In 2020, Phogat participated in the popular reality show ‘Bigg Boss’. She has shared screen with noted actors such as Ravi Kishan and Jimmy Shergill.
Phogat, who has three sisters and a brother, had posted images and videos on her Instagram account shortly before her death. She complained of uneasiness during her trip to Goa and was taken to hospital where she passed away. She is also survived by her daughter Yashodhara. Her husband Sanjay Phogat, also a politician, had mysteriously died in their farmhouse in Hisar in 2016.
Haryana chief minister ML Khattar expressed grief in a Twitter post over her death, saying, “Deeply saddened to learn about the death of Sonali Phogat.”
Phogat made the headlines in 2020 for thrashing an official publicly with her footwear in Hisar. The video had gone viral.
BJP leader #SonaliPhogat Dies Of Heart Attack.
In 2020, She physically abused a Male officer by falsely accusing him of molesting her in middle of 50 people. CCTV footage exposed her.
Early Death is Karma or Coincidence?! Let's not forget her feminist legacy of abusing man. pic.twitter.com/yxij8fTgMX
— Gender Inequal INDIA (@IndiaGender) August 23, 2022
