The drama over Swati Maliwal’s appointment as the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson continued on Thursday.
While her nameplate was removed, her office was found to be locked in the morning. Later in the day, the office was open but Maliwal’s and the other nominated members’ nameplates weren’t back in place.
When asked about the office being open contrary to her claims, she said her staff had gone to the office in the morning and found it locked. “It could have been opened later may be due to media pressure or any other reason. But it was locked in the morning. Since we were told we cannot sign any files, in a way the Commission closed down,” she said.
The 30-year-old activist, who is also the chief minister’s advisor (grievances), tweeted that she was told that Lieutenant Governor had called and asked the DCW officials to communicate to her to not to go to office from Thursday.
Holding a press conference at a cow shelter near the Monastery market, Ms Maliwal said that all the files were taken away from her and she was given a letter by the member-secretary explaining her that she received a call from L-G office. “The letter clearly states that DCW officials were contacted by L-G office and told to not let me carry out any work,” she said.
When asked who is to be blamed for her appointment being denied, she said she doesn’t want to get into the politics behind the controversy.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Jung’s office had vehemently denied her claims, saying LG was upset over such baseless allegations. In the letter, the member-secretary said that the nameplates were removed because of the ‘spelling mistakes’ in the names of some of the members. “But there was no error in my name’s spelling and yet it was removed,” argued Ms Maliwal.
Asked why she had not gone to the DCW office, she said, “I am not a DCW poster girl who will only work if she gets the top post, I will continue to work the way I have been working.” However, Ms Maliwal said that she will continue with her field visits and continue working as an activist.
