Swati Maliwal assault case: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Swati Maliwal said she would have happily given up her Rajya Sabha membership if the party wanted her to quit and firmly asserted that even if any power puts pressure on her to resign she will not do so. In an interview with news agency ANI, Maliwal responded to reports claiming that the AAP wanted her to relinquish her Rajya Sabha seat for a ‘certain lawyer,’ which may have caused the party’s dissatisfaction with her.
What did Maliwal say?
“Agar meri Rajya Sabha ki seat unhe chahiye thi, woh pyaar se maangte toh main jaan de deti, MP toh bohot choti baat hain. (If they needed my Rajya Sabha seat, they would have asked for it, I would have given my life, the MP seat is such a small thing). If you see my whole career I never showed any desire for any position,” Maliwal said.
“I gave up my engineering job to join these people in 2006, when no one used to know us… Only three people were there and I was one of them… I have been working since then… I have worked on the ground and have run all kinds of operations all these years. I was absolutely the most important part of those two or three people… I would have resigned readily… I can work without any position…The way they have beaten me, ‘ab chaahe duniya ki koi bhi shakti lag jaye main resign nahi karungi (I will not resign now at any cost),” the AAP leader asserted.
Everyone’s ego has increased in the party: Maliwal
Speaking further, Maliwal said she is the youngest women Parliamentarian right now and she will work very hard and will become an ideal. When asked why you never realised that some of the members of the parties are becoming powerful, she said that everyone’s ego has increased and things have drastically changed now within the party.
“I have been with them since 2006. When we used to work at that time there was a very different environment. There was next level ‘Josh’ in each one of us. I lived in the slums for 7 years and we all used to work in this manner but when power comes, I think many things come with it and the biggest thing that comes is ego. Slowly and gradually when ego takes over your head, you probably cannot see what is true, what is false, what is right, what is wrong…I never thought that a girl would be beaten first and then she would be isolated with complete character assassination. I think everyone’s ego has increased a lot but I believe that everything begins from the top,” she added.
Maliwal was assaulted by Kejriwal’s close aide
Earlier in January this year, Maliwal was elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed. Following the assault allegations levelled by her against a former aide of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena said that the silence of the AAP chief on this matter shows his stance about the issue of the safety of women. A case was filed against Bibhav Kumar and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the case based on Ms Maliwal’s complaint. Bibhav was arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday, May 19, and is currently in police custody.