Guwahati, April 19: All India Youth Congress’s (IYC) Assam unit President Angkita Dutta has accused her colleague and IYC chief Srinivas BV of mentally harassing and humiliating her over her gender.
Talking to media persons, Angkita Dutta said, “This has been happening repeatedly, in fact last week also. I had complained within the organisation for months but nothing has happened. I am on the verge of losing self-respect now because I am educated and work on women’s issues. IYC in-charge comes to Assam and calls me ‘hei ladki’, ‘iss ladki’ not addressing me as Dr Dutta or Angkita Dutta. After that I complained to the leadership that this had happened. Then in the Chhattisgarh Raipur session, I was going inside the hotel and IYC chief Srinivas was coming out. We stopped to have a conversation but Srinivas told me that ‘tum kya liktha hai… tum kya daru peeke likhta hai. Kya pita hai ‘vodka or tequila’. This was what the youth Congress president told me, to the only female youth Congress president.”
“I had complained to the leadership but nothing has been done against him. I have been humiliated and mentally harassed by Srinivas,” she said.
In multiple tweets, Dutta slammed Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi and her brother Rahul Gandhi for failing to take any actions against Srinivas despite her complaints.
“I am a woman leader. If I undergo such harassment, how am I supposed to encourage women to join the Congress?” she asked.
“I have kept quiet for months waiting for them to take action against him, yet no one seemed interested. Srinivas BV, in the guise of his PR, is getting away with all kinds of wrong doings. How can a sexist and a chauvinistic leader of IYC, torture and demean a woman every single time? What happened to Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon’?” she asked.
Angkita further said, “Srinivas thinks he is so powerful and has the blessings of big leaders that he can harass and demean a woman in the organisation. When previous IYC president Keshav Kumar sexually harassed and (it) came out because of #MeToo, he was compelled to be removed. Now despite being mentally harassed and discriminated by Srinivas for six months, I have been told to keep mum and no enquiry has been initiated.”
“I had also complained to APCC president Bhupen Bora about the matter. He is a mentor to me and supported me in every step. He told Srinivas not to hold the election,” she added.
She added, “Now they are going to file a defamation case against me and I welcome it. I am already filing a defamation case… Now, when I complain about the harassment which I faced from the top Congress leadership, now they are slapping me with a defamation case. I will fight it.”
Angkita Dutta is the daughter of late Anjan Dutta, who was a minister in Tarun Gogoi’s government in Assam and also headed the party’s state unit.
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