New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal on Thursday said that that only party leader Sanjay Singh contacted her after her alleged assault incident at Chief Minister Kejriwal's residence.
"Only Sanjay Singh contacted me. I believe he was asked to do so. People in the party may have contacted each other and my close friends, but no one contacted me," Maliwal told ANI on being asked if Raghav Chadha tried to contact her.
Asked whether, Raghav Chadha, and Harbhajan Singh along with her were asked to give up their Rajya Sabha seats, she said that no such "discussion" was done.
"No such discussion was done with me. Like I said if they had been asked politely, I would have given my life. MP post is a very small thing," she said.
Swati Maliwal stated that even if someone wanted her Rajya Sabha seat she would have willingly given it and firmly asserted that "ab chaahe duniya ki koi bhi shakti lag jaye main resign nahi karungi" (even if any power puts pressure on me to resign I won't do).
"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, and I would have given my life, it is such a small thing). If you see my entire career, you will see that I never hankered after any post. In 2006, I left my engineering job and joined them when nobody used to know us. Only three people were there and I was one of them. I have been working since then. The way they have beaten me, 'Ab chaahe duniya ki koi bhi shakti lag jaye main resign nahi karungi' (I will not resign now). I have been told that this is the reason my character is being assassinated. I will not resign. I am the youngest women Parliamentarian right now and I will work very hard and will become an ideal," Maliwal said.
When asked why she never realized that some of the members of the parties are becoming powerful, Maliwal said that everyone's ego has increased.
"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 said.
She further said that all the women should take action against those who ever tried to assault them.
"Every day at 6 am I wake up with a very horrible feeling in my stomach. I am feeling anxiety almost the entire day...They tried their level best to make a victim out of me, they have tried their level best to completely finish me. But I won't allow that to happen...I just want to say this to all the women to take action against those who ever tried to assault you," she said.
Following the assault allegations levelled by Aam Aadmi Party MP Swati Maliwal 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 Maliwal's complaint. Bibhav was arrested by the Delhi Police on Sunday, May 19, and is currently in police custody.
—ANI