Amid rumours of Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma egging state Youth Congress leader Angkita Dutta to file a complaint against Indian Youth Congress president Srinivas BV, Dutta on Sunday clarified that it was her independent decision to approach the police. She said she was frustrated as nothing concrete was being done by her party's leaders to address her grievances. She also said that she was hopeful of returning to the Congress's folds once Srinivas BV's 'harassment' is laid bare in the party's inquiry.
Earlier in the day, the Assam CM, taking a dig at the Congress, said: "It is unfair to blame me for the lack of a safe environment within the Congress party for female workers."
“Nobody forced or provoked me to go to the police and file a complaint against Srinivas. I am very upset about the fact that the whole thing has been politicized now. My motive was to get an internal inquiry done so that all that Srinivas had been doing for the past few months came to light. I wanted my grievances to be addressed by and within the party. When it did not happen, I took to Twitter to express my grievances and everything was out of frustration,” she said.
The APYC President has accused Srinivas BV, the National President of the Youth Congress, of harassment. On Thursday, Dutta had filed a police complaint against Srinivas BV at the Dispur Police Station in Assam’s Guwahati, for allegedly harassing her over her gender for almost six months.
In her complaint, Dutta accused IYC National President Srinivas BV of persistently harassing her for the past six months. She said Srinivas made sexist comments and threatened of dire consequences if she complained against him.
On Thursday, she said Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) President Bhupen Kumar Borah had asked her to remain silent for at least 48 hours. Dutta said, “I went to Bhupen Borah’s house and met him.He spoke to Srinivas and told me that the latter will not file a defamation case against me and asked me to remain silent for at least 48 hours. I then left his place for my home."
"However, I couldn't even reach my house when I read the tweet that they served a defamation notice on me. I consider Bhupen Borah my mentor and have a lot of respect for him. But what was the value of the APCC president’s commitment,” she wondered.
When asked if she planned on joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Angkita was quick to reply that she would never join the saffron party. Dutta said that she was sure that the truth would come to light once the inquiry is completed and the Congress would remove her expulsion soon. "Srinivas cannot get away with harassment so easily," she said.
Dutta further dismissed rumours of contesting the Nazira assembly seat in the next elections. She said her biggest concern is that she gets justice.