SAD president Singh Badal condemned Congress president Rahul Gandhi “for assigning party general secretary for Punjab Asha Kumari. (Express File Photo)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal Thursday condemned Congress president Rahul Gandhi “for assigning party general secretary for Punjab Asha Kumari to cover the misdeeds of a Punjab minister who had admittedly sent indecent messages to a woman IAS officer by claiming that no complaint had been received against the minister”.
In a statement here, Badal said, Kumari’s statement would be remembered in history as the first instance when someone who had already admitted his mistake was being given a clean chit. “It was shameful that a woman was belittling a fellow woman on the orders of Rahul Gandhi with a mind-boggling statement that text messages did not constitute sexual harassment. An educated woman and politician cannot make such a statement knowing the law.”
He added, “It seemed there was intense pressure on Asha Kumari to give a clean chit to the minister from the Congress high command.”
He said Rahul should also tell Punjabis why he was adopting double standard on the issue of safety of women.
“Rahul and the Congress demanded M J Akbar’s resignation from the Union Cabinet after the latter was accused of sexually harassing women journalists in his role as an editor, but has been actively sheltering someone for similar transgressions,” said Badal.
He asked, “Is Rahul silent about this criminal act because the minister is his blue-eyed boy,” claiming that the Congress president had been apprised about the matter a month ago and he should clarify why he was maintaining a stoic silence on the issue.
He said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already disclosed that after the complaint by the woman IAS officer was received by him, the minister had apologised to the woman.
“When the chief minister had acknowledged the minister’s guilt, how is Asha Kumari giving him a clean chit? The Congress general secretary has not only acted as an extra-constitutional authority, but also belittled India’s MeToo movement, which seeks to expose and punish people like the minister,” Sukhbir said. He added
Asking the Congress not to cover up the minister’s sordid acts with apologies, the SAD president said the law was quite clear on this.
“The matter should be taken up officially and investigated by a harassment panel,” said Sukhbir, adding that following which action should be taken against the minister as per the law. In the meantime, Sukhbir said, the minister should be sacked from the Cabinet immediately to allow other women also to approach the harassment panel to file complaints against him, if any.
Sukhbir said if the government did not take immediate action against the minister, it would send a signal to women that they were not safe in Punjab.
“If the Congress government cannot give justice to a woman IAS officer, then what will be the fate of lakhs of ordinary women in Punjab who have no direct access to the chief ministers or the corridors of power?” he wondered.