AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: Two members of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday dismissed as "malicious" its former chief Swati Maliwal's allegations against the AAP government and urged her not to seek political gains out of the struggle of over 700 women employed by the panel who have not got their salaries.
Panel members Firdos Khan and Kiran Negi, who wrote to Maliwal, also accused Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena of withholding the commission's funds.
Their letters came a day after Maliwal wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing his government of "systematically dismantling" the commission after she resigned as its chairperson in January. She resigned following her nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
There was no immediate reaction from either Maliwal or the office of the LG on Khan and Negi's letters, the subject lines of which read: "Request to stop using struggle of 700+ women for personal political gains". The content of the two letters was the same.
"Over 700 women who have been employed in the commission and various grant programmes across the city have been left without any salary since November 2023 but you have made the struggle of these women only about yourself and have made statements that the attack on DCW started after your resignation," the letters read.
The withholding of funds since November last year on the "express directions of the Hon'ble LG has been done to ensure that the credible works of the elected government are destroyed", they alleged.
"You (Maliwal) are also aware that the flimsy grounds on which funds are being denied to the DCW have been challenged in the Hon'ble High Court and despite Hon'ble High Court's directions WCD ( Delhi women and child development department) has still not released the funds only because of the backing of the Hon'ble LG," read the letters.
Negi and Khan in their letters stressed that Kejriwal and his government have stood with the DCW in the face of the attack on the commission.
"Ma'am, the attack on the commission from the vested interest of the system has been ongoing since 2016 and the Hon'ble chief minister and the elected government have always stood with the commission as a strong shield," they said.
"I humbly request you to kindly desist from attacking the elected government and instead, expose the Hon'ble LG (Delhi lieutenant governor) and the actual perpetrators of this attack on the commission, like you have done for all these years till two months back," they said in their letters.
The two members said that "a person such as you (Maliwal) who has spent almost nine years as the head of this commission and is now a member of the highest legislature of the country has made such malicious, misleading and fictitious claims." Kejriwal has always promoted the DCW and backed it, leading to an increase in its operations, Khan and Negi claimed.
"It is known to everyone that Hon'ble chief minister has always promoted DCW from every platform and has worked day and night to empower you as the leading voice of women and girls not only in Delhi but in entire country," the letters read.
They said it is "extremely painful" that she is now blaming the elected government despite its "unprecedented" efforts to strengthen the DCW.