Indore: It happened again. Less than two weeks after husbands of elected panchayat members took oath of office instead of the women in Dhar and Damoh districts, a ‘sarpanch pati’ — husband of the sarpanch — hoisted the Tricolour in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
The district administration has suspended the gram panchayat secretary.
What makes the bigotry even more glaring is that it happened on India’s 75th Independence Day, when the country was celebrating ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
An I-Day function was organised at Chhoti Shendra gram panchayat, around 40km from Alirajpur district headquarters. As per the rules, newly-elected sarpanch Railbai Surtan would have hoisted the Tricolour. However, her husband Surtan sidelined her and hoisted the national flag while Railbai and gram panchayat secretary Varchan Singh Avasya stood as spectators. As videos and photographs of the sarpanch pati went viral, Alirajpur administration suspended Avasya.
“The gram panchayat secretary was present during this immoral act, which is an indication of gross negligence and apathy in discharging his official duties,” Alirajpur zilla panchayat CEO Sanskriti Jain’s order says.
On August 6, at least 15 women who were elected as panchs and sarpanchs in Dhar and Damoh sat in the audience or stayed home as their husbands — ‘Panch Patis’ — took oath on the Constitution, right under the noses of government officials. Such incidents make a mockery of women reservation in electoral politics.
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