The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again humiliated a Dalit woman councillor. AAP Delhi Women’s Wing President and councillor Sarika Chaudhary on Saturday exposed the BJP for deliberately excluding her from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)’s official events, despite being the elected councillor of the area, due to her caste and gender. Furious over being denied an invitation to the International Yoga Day function at Ambedkar Stadium—despite being the elected representative of the ward—Sarika Chaudhary launched a sit-in protest with women supporters and raised slogans against the BJP.
“This is not the first time,” she said. “As a Dalit woman councillor, I have repeatedly been denied my rightful place in MCD programmes. According to the MCD Act, the local councillor must preside over events held in their ward. But BJP’s casteist and misogynistic mindset has once again denied me my constitutional rights.”
In a statement, AAP Delhi Women’s Wing President and councillor Sarika Chaudhary pointed out, stating, “Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution is being trampled today. Those whom he empowered are now being silenced,” she said, after being deliberately excluded from the International Yoga Day event at Ambedkar Stadium—located in her own ward and named after Babasaheb himself.
Despite being the elected councillor of the area, Sarika Chaudhary was not invited to the MCD-hosted programme. “I learned about the invitation cards from someone else. The event was held in my constituency, under my jurisdiction, yet my name was nowhere. I called Central Zone Chairperson Yogita Singh and asked why my name was missing, but got no clear answer,” she said, highlighting this as part of a repeated pattern of BJP’s dalit disrespect.
Sarika Chaudhary cited the DMC Act, which mandates that no MCD event in a ward can proceed without the consent and presence of the area councillor—regardless of party affiliation. Yet while the event invitation listed Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh, Deputy Mayor Bhawan Singh Yadav, Standing Committee Chairperson Satyapal Sharma, Leader of the House, MCD Commissioner Ashwini Kumar, and even councillors from other wards, the one person left out was Sarika Chaudhary—the only Dalit woman in that circle of governance.
“I used to believe the Commissioner treated all councillors equally—be they general category, Dalit, or women. But I was wrong. The Commissioner has bowed before the BJP and is enabling this injustice. I’m a Dalit woman who defeated entrenched political families on a general seat—and yet I’m being denied my rights,” she said.
The AAP Councillor listed several other events where similar discrimination took place. “When LG V.K. Saxena visited West to Wonder Park, I wasn’t named. When Nizamuddin Basti’s parking was inaugurated in the presence of LG, BJP MP Gautam Gambhir and senior MCD officials, my name was left out. Even when the Commissioner visited Shaheedi Park, I wasn’t invited,” she recounted.
“I personally called the Commissioner and DC, asking how they could exclude the elected representative of the ward—a Dalit woman. They assured me they’d look into it, but I never received any response. Neither Yogita Singh nor anyone from MCD answered. When Leader of Opposition Ankush Narang spoke to the Mayor, he simply said, ‘The cards are printed. Nothing can be done.’ MCD officials say it’s not in their hands—they were instructed from above not to include my name.”
“This was an official MCD programme, not a BJP event. Why was the councillor not presiding? Why was my name missing—just because I am a Dalit woman? Do they have a problem sitting next to someone like me?” she asked. “This is a violation of my constitutional rights. I demand to be included in every civic programme in my ward. I was elected by the people, and I will not let my community or my dignity be erased because of the BJP’s discriminatory mindset.”
