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Maliwal had resigned as the DCW’s chairperson following her nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the Aam Aadmi Party (File image: PTI)
In their letters to Maliwal, DCW members Firdos Khan and Kiran Negi also urged the MP not to use for her “personal political gains” the struggle of more than 700 women employed by the commission and under grant programmes who have not got their salaries since November last year
A day after AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal accused her party’s government here of “systematically dismantling” the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), two members of the panel on Wednesday dismissed her allegations as “malicious” and “fictitious”.
In their letters to Maliwal, DCW members Firdos Khan and Kiran Negi also urged the MP not to use for her “personal political gains” the struggle of more than 700 women employed by the commission and under grant programmes who have not got their salaries since November last year.
Maliwal on Tuesday wrote to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, accusing his government of “systematically dismantling” the commission after she resigned as its chief.
There was no immediate reaction from Maliwal on the letters of Khan and Negi, the subject lines of which read: “Request to stop using struggle of 700+ women for personal political gains”.
Maliwal had resigned as the DCW’s chairperson following her nomination to the Rajya Sabha by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
“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.
Negi and Khan in their letters, the content of which was the same, 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.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)