On April 19, 2023, the Indian Youth Congress (Assam) Angkita Dutta accused the youth wing national president Srinivas BV of harassment and discrimination based on her gender.
She referred to Srinivas as “sexist” and “chauvinistic”, she tweeted that “I am a woman leader. If I undergo such harassment, how am I supposed to encourage other women to join. What happened to Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon’?” she asked.
“Despite my complaints, no inquiry has been initiated against Srinivas. I have kept quiet for months waiting for them to act against him, yet no one seems interested. Srinivas, in the guise of his PR, is getting away with all types of wrongdoings, she stated.”
Angkita met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and spoke to him about the mental harassment and demeaning use of language by Srinivas.
The youth leader, who is also the daughter of former Assam minister Anjan Dutta, alleged in multiple tweets that Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi failed to take steps against the matter despite her complaints.
“I had a lot of faith in Rahul Gandhi and went to Jammu during Bharat Jodo Yatra to appraise him of Ssrinivas BV harassment and demeaning use of language towards me. It is April now, and still no equity against him,” she said.
#WATCH | "For the past 6 months, Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Srinivas BV & his IYC secretary in-charge Vardhan Yadav have been harassing me continuously. I've complained about this to the leadership but till now no enquiry committee has been initiated against them,"… pic.twitter.com/jbJIPldDHa
— ANI (@ANI) April 19, 2023
“IYC President Srinivas has continually harassed me and was discriminating me on the grounds of gender. My values and education do not allow me anymore. The leadership has played deaf ears despite bring front of them many times Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Priyanka Gandhi.”
“When the previous IYC President, Keshav Kumar, sexually harassed, and because of Me Too came out. He was compelled to remove. Now despite being mentally harassed and discriminated by Srinivas for six months, I have been told to keep mum and no enquiry is initiated Rahul Gandhi,” she tweeted.
She further said in a tweet, “I am a four generations congressmen. I have contest internal organisation twice, make booth committee, beaten by police. My education from Pol Sc to LLB in Delhi Uni, to PhD in Guwahati University. We keep quiet for the sake of the party. But harassment doesn’t stop by Srinivas”.
Responding to Dutta’s tweets, the IT cell of the Youth Congress said it is ‘initiating strong/stringent legal action’ against her for using ‘utterly unparliamentary, undignified, defamatory, malicious words’ against Srinivas BV.
Roopesh S Bhadauria, the head of the IYC, has sent a notice to Dutta and claimed that her allegations are “politically motivated and totally false.” The notice alleged that her name has come up in the Sharda Chit Fund Scam and ED/ PMLA cases and that she is “constantly in touch” with Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.
He has accused her of making the allegations “to create an atmosphere of leaving the Congress and to have a closure of these cases.” He also maintained that Dutta made “baseless claims” against Srinivas on multiple occasions without the “slightest of proof.”
Meanwhile, National Commission for Women (NCW) has taken up the matter after Angkita Dutta accused Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief Srinivas BV and leader Vardhan Yadav of harassing her for the past six months. Dutta has claimed that during the Raipur plenary session, Srinivas had asked her if she drinks vodka, adding, “I was appalled.”
