New Delhi: The expulsion of Congress leader Simi Rosebell John from the party due to her alarming ‘disclosures’ regarding the casting couch scenario in the Kerala unit has provided the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP more ammunition to fire guns on what they perceive as Congress’s ‘autocracy and intolerance’ in handling internal issues.
On Monday, BJP national spokesperson Shazia Ilmi tore into the Congress, mocking party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘Ladki hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon’ slogan and asked whether it was merely for political posturing.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi used the slogan, which translates to ‘I am a girl, I can fight,’ to empower women in politics.
Speaking to IANS, Shazia Ilmi said that the Congress party chose to punish her by showing her the door rather than interrogating the case.
Ilmi further said that the party, instead of paying heed to her complaints, went to silence and suppressed the voice of its functionary, who spoke up against atrocities on women leaders in its Kerala unit.
“A woman leader went on record to narrate her ordeal at the hands of male counterparts in the Kerala Congress unit. She explained how women leaders are subjected to harassment and exploitation in the party, but the party’s high command neither took cognisance of her complaints nor initiated any probe. Rather it silenced her voice by expelling her from the party,” Ilmi said.
Simi Rosebell John, a Kerala Congress leader, was expelled from the party on Sunday following her remarks on the state of women leaders in the Congress state unit while speaking to a private TV channel.
She reportedly claimed that the women’s situation in the party’s state unit was ‘no less than’ casting couch. ‘However, soon after her ‘disclosures,’ she was shown the door.
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Kerala Congress, in a clarification, said that the leader in question was trying to harass and defame women leaders and workers, allegedly at the behest of some political adversaries.
Earlier in the day, former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar also attacked the Congress for its selective silence on matters concerning the party and its allies.
“Look at the Congress’ level of politics. Before elections, they make tall claims on many issues and take the moral high ground, but after that, they go on silencing the voices of whistleblowers,” he said.
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