While we have full-day discussions in the supreme court on Same-Sex Marriage and we are trying to elevate our standards of human rights, we need to know that India has not been able to deal with women’s empowerment yet. We have high talks but the actions don’t seem to be in sync with our speech. Whether it is politics, corporate or home it’s the same story. Till the woman is quiet and taking orders, she is considered the best and is called a ‘Laxmi.’ She is praised and considered lucky. The moment she opens up her mouth to share her discomfort or atrocity she is treated like a witch and put down to the lowest in the social arena. There are some typical ways to pull down a woman. And the best one is to allegate her in a way that society won’t look at her with respect. That is exactly what’s happening with Angkita Dutta. Women can handle pain and hurt very well as per their genetic structure but if you scratch the self-respect of a woman, it’s like calling for fire.
Angkita Dutta, the president of the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress, was expelled from the Congress party on Saturday, April 22, for six years due to her so-called “anti-party activities.” When there was no reason to fabricate, fictitious anti-party activities were the easiest way to throw her out of the system. The real reason behind her expelling is that she chose of reporting IYC National President Srinivas BV to the police for allegedly harassing and abusing her. Angkita Dutta majored in political science and graduated from Delhi University with an LLB and a PhD in the field. Her family has a four-generation history of support for the Indian National Congress. She actively participated in Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” campaign and twice ran in organisational internal elections before being elected to the booth committee.
Angkita Dutta is not a newbie or from an alien pedigree. She has a proper background and experience in politics. She majored in political science and graduated from Delhi University with an LLB and a PhD in the field. Her family has a four-generation history of support for the Indian National Congress. She actively participated in Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Yatra” campaign and twice ran in Organisational Internal elections before being elected to the booth committee. Her father, Anjan Dutta, was a prominent member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee and held a number of ministerial roles in the fields of transportation, industry, and public enterprises. He sadly passed away in 2016 at the age of 64 at the AIIMS hospital in New Delhi. Furthermore, Thaneswar Dutta, Angkita’s grandfather, was an active Congressman who backed Indira Gandhi during the party’s split in 1978. In the same year, he also stood for Congress from Sivasagar LAC. These familial ties reflect Angkita’s strong ties to Congress and may have affected her aspirations for political office. In a series of tweets earlier this month, Angkita Dutta claimed that BV Srinivas had harassed and discriminated against her for six months based on her gender. She further asserted that no action had been done against Srinivas even though she had informed Rahul Gandhi about the situation some months earlier. Dutta labelled Srinivas as “chauvinistic” and “sexist” in her tweets. She voiced worry numerous times.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, criticised the Congress on Friday, April 21, for handling the allegations of harassment brought out by Angkita Dutta against Srinivas BV, the national head of the party’s youth wing, in an unethical manner. If the Congress party was unable to handle the issue, he promised that the Assam police will step in. Before this, on April 20, the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) sent Dr Angkita Dutta a show cause notice over the accusations she made against Srinivas BV, the national president of the IYC, who is also close to Rahul Gandhi. The notice, which was sent by APCC President Bhupen Kumar Borah, asked Dr Angkita Dutta, the former leader of the Assam Pradesh Youth Congress, to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against her. She had a two-day window to answer.
Notably, Angkita Dutta reported Srinivas to the police in Guwahati on the same day, accusing him of harassing her. She said that Srinivas verbally abused her, made sexist remarks, and mentally harassed her in the lawsuit. She further stated that he threatened to punish her severely if she reported him to the senior office holders. She described a recent incident at Chhatishargar where Srinivas allegedly grabbed her arm, pulled and pushed her, and threatened her with vulgar terms. The show cause notice was given two days after Dr Angkita Dutta received a legal notification from Roopesh S. Bhadauria, National Chairman of the Indian Youth Congress Legal Cell. Srinivas sent the notice on his behalf. The charges made by Dutta in tweets and other remarks were described in the notice as “sexist, chauvinistic, false, and frivolous,” and the language used was described as “unparliamentary, undignified, defamatory, and malicious.” It was also alleged that Srinivas was a “well-known public figure.”
In a formal announcement, the grand old party said that Angkita Dutta had been barred from the party’s primary membership for a period of six years. Angkita Dutta, the daughter of the late Congress politician Anjan Dutta, said that she was abruptly deprived of her leadership responsibilities for the Assam Youth Congress and questioned whether this was due to her gender. Angkita Dutta alleges in a police report that she went to the Hotel May Fair in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on March 25, 2023, in the evening to meet the high office bearers of the Congress party present there, including Sri Bhupen Borah, the state president of the Congress party, who was there at the time on the occasion of the party’s Plenary Session. At the hotel’s entrance, I unexpectedly ran into the aforementioned accused person, Shri Srinivas BV, who heckled me while holding my arm, pulled and pushed me, and threatened to ruin my career in the Congress party if I went there to report him to the top party officials.”Honestly, I am aware that this could spell the end of my political career,” Dutta wrote on Twitter. I’ll accept this price if it’s the only option. If you want to witness me reading trolls that my coworkers are spreading, feel free to look at the CCTV footage of my house and office.
Amit Malviya, the leader of the BJP’s IT cell, tweeted: “This is the Congress’s paradigm of women’s empowerment! Instead of giving the victim of harassment a forum to air her complaints, fire her. Women should not be treated in the way Angkita Dutta was expelled from Congress. How she would be able to persuade other women to join if she had to deal with such harassment as a female leader?”
Dutta claimed that despite her concerns, no investigation had been opened against Srinivas, and she had been waiting for action to be taken against him for several months. She further said that Srinivas was getting away with misbehaviour by using public relations as an excuse. In response, BV Srinivas sent Dutta a legal letter requesting a public apology and threatening legal action in the alternative.
We have seen many cases like this in India where if a woman complains about a politician’s misbehaviour and abusive treatment, instead of helping her, the police help the accused in covering up the complaints. The victim is made to feel like a criminal. Angkita is at that stage right now. However, the next stage can be far more dangerous as a random case can be filed against her and she could be jailed to kill her spirit, livelihood and confidence. Prime Minister Modi Ji should observe such cases and the similarities of how women are prosecuted to shut their truth. Angkita Dutta should be supported and no fake cases should be allowed to be filed against her considering our history and mentality. The Chief Minister of Assam should promise the women across the country that Angkita will not be left to fight alone and go through the same torture that many women have already gone through in our country. This case can be the beginning of change across states in India. We should have hopes this time and manifest a change now. Don’t let Laxmi Go to jail when she turns into Durga!
