Don’t use our struggle for personal gains, DCW members tell Maliwal

New Delhi, July 3

Members of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Wednesday criticised former commission chief and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal for allegedly using the struggle of over 700 women for personal political gains.

Panel members Firdos Khan and Kiran Negi, who wrote to Maliwal, also accused Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) VK Saxena of withholding the commission’s funds.

Maliwal had written to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, accusing the Delhi Government of “systematically dismantling” the commission.

‘Maliwal’s claim fictitious’

Over 700 women who have been employed in the commission and various grant programmes across the city have been left without any salary since November 2023, but you have made the struggle of these women only about yourself and said that the attack on DCW started after your resignation. — Firdos Khan & Kiran Negi, DCW members

“Over 700 women who have been employed in the commission and various grant programmes across the city have been left without any salary since November 2023, but you have made the struggle of these women only about yourself and have made statements that the attack on DCW started after your resignation,” the letter read.

The letter accused Maliwal of making “malicious”, “misleading”, and “fictitious” claims. Maliwal had been the chairman of the commission since 2015 and resigned in January this year after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the AAP from Delhi.

She was embroiled in a controversy wherein she alleged that Delhi CM’s close aide Bibhav Kumar assaulted her at Kejriwal’s official residence.

The letter emphasised the vision of the Delhi CM and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia in increasing the budget of the commission from Rs 5 crore in 2015 to Rs 35 crore in two years, increasing helpline cars and establishing other programmes for women.

There was no immediate reaction from Maliwal on the letter, the subject lines of which read: “Request to stop using struggle of 700+ women for personal political gains.”

Meanwhile, DCW member Vandana Singh on Wednesday accused two of her colleagues of acting as “spokespersons for AAP” after they countered Maliwal’s allegation that the Delhi Government was “dismantling” the commission.