Amid growing demands for the sacking of Punjab Cabinet Minister as the Congress Government in the State also hit by #MeToo movement, the State party unit on Friday maintained that no complaint was received against the Minister, who allegedly sent an “inappropriate text” to a woman government official.
“No complaint has been received by the party (against the Minister),” said Punjab party affairs in-charge Asha Kumari, the sidelines of a Congress protest outside the CBI office, as a part of the Congress's nationwide protest against the Centre's decision to send CBI director Alok Verma on leave.
Kumari said that the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has already expressed his view on the matter.
At the same time, Kumari maintained that “sending a message does not become a case of MeToo”.
“Sexual harassment is different from messaging,” said Kumari, who is a legislator in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.
Opposition Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party have been demanding that the Minister, who is believed to have sent at least one text to the official, be sacked.
In a recent statement, Capt Amarinder had maintained that when the matter reached him, he made the Minister apologise to the woman official and “had resolved it to the officer's satisfaction”.
SAD president Sukhbir Badal condemned the Congress president Rahul Gandhi for assigning Asha Kumari that task to cover up the misdeeds of Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who admittedly sent indecent messages to a woman IAS officer.
“Kumari’s statement would be remembered in history as the first instance when someone, who had already admitted his mistake, is being given a clean chit,” he quipped.
Sukhbir said that the Chief Minister had already disclosed that after the complaint by woman IAS officer was received by him, Channi had apologized to the woman. “When the Chief Minister has acknowledged Channi’s guilt, how is Asha Kumari giving him a clean chit? By attempting to do this, the Congress general secretary has not only acted as an extra-constitutional authority but has also belittled India’s MeToo movement which seeks to expose and punish people like Channi,” he added.
He said that it was also 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, but it seems there is intense pressure on Asha Kumari to give a clean chit to Channi from the Congress high command,” he said.
Asking Asha Kumari to come clean, Sukhbir said that she should disclose why she was indulging in such unethical conduct. He also asked Rahul Gandhi to disclose what was his compulsion to protect Channi who has been at the centre of controversies, including links with the sand mafia.
“Rahul should also tell Punjabis why he is adopting double standards on the issue of safety of women. Rahul and the Congress demanded MJ 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 committed by him as a Cabinet Minister,” he said adding if he was silent about this criminal act because the Minister is his blue eyed boy?
Asking the Congress party not to cover up Channi’s sordid acts with apologies, SAD president said that the law was very clear on the issue. “The matter should be taken up officially and investigated by a harassment panel following which action should be taken against Channi as per the law. In the meantime, he should be sacked from the Cabinet immediately to allow other women also to approach the harassment panel to file complaints against Channi if any,” he added.
Sukhbir declared that if the Government did not take immediate action against Channi, it would send out a signal to women that they were not safe in Punjab.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and former Minister Manoranjan Kalia demanded that Channi should be divested off the portfolio of Technical Education being having co-education.
“Channi says that the “message was sent inadvertently” to the IAS officer who accused him for sending “inappropriate” message. But, Channi must disclose the name of the person for whom the text message was meant for in which Channi praised her eyes,” said Kalia.
Kalia said that earlier also, Channi behaved childishly when he went for a toss for posting in which two polytechnic lecturer who were interested for the same posting.
Taking on the party leadership, Kalia alleged that instead of taking action against Channi, the Chief Minister is brushing the issue under the carpet. He also raised a question mark over the silence of Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar.