Will reinstate women’s panel staff: Kejriwal

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday voiced his support for the contractual employees of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) who were removed by an official order and vowed to reinstate them.

Kejriwal’s remarks came a day after DCW Assistant Secretary Gautam Majumdar issued an order to remove all its contractual employees with immediate effect. The order was issued in compliance with the April 2024 directive from the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development with the approval of the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G).

Kejriwal, in a post on X, said, “I promise my sisters who have lost their jobs that I will do whatever it takes to ensure they are reinstated.”

Echoing Kejriwal’s sentiments, AAP leader Manish Sisodia termed the act as a disgraceful and inhumane sin.

“Before Diwali, the BJP has rendered hundreds of families without breadwinners by taking away their jobs. This sin committed by the BJP is extremely shameful,” he said.

“When the BJP gives speeches or makes manifestos, they talk about providing jobs. But removing people who have been working on contract for 30 years in such a manner reflects the true character of the BJP. It is disgraceful and inhumane to take away the jobs of so many people right before Diwali,” Sisodia added.

Attacking the BJP, Sisodia said this incident itself proves that the BJP was against the agenda of employment. “Instead of giving jobs, the government is busy taking away the jobs of those who are already employed,” he added.

“The workers were doing an excellent job; they were helping others, helping women, and not just recently — they have been working for the past 30 years. The BJP has taken their jobs away in one stroke, and that too right before Diwali,” he said. He said the AAP and its government stand with these people, and whatever needs to be done to reinstate them, we would do it.

Cabinet minister Gopal Rai said, “Slowly, one by one, the work that had been halted is being started again. We are already working on reinstating the people who have been wronged in the past, and we will continue to work on this as well.”