The woman used to cook midday meals at a state-run school (Representational)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today slammed the BJP government in Uttarakhand over the alleged sacking of a Dalit woman who worked as a cook at a school and offered to give her a job in the Delhi government.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader and Social Welfare Minister in the Delhi government Rajendra Pal Gautam also attacked Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on the issue, alleging that he is "incompetent" to render justice to the people of the state.
"Chief Minister Dhami is not competent. He cannot render justice to people. Their entire politics is to divide people on the lines of religion and caste," Mr Gautam charged. "For this, Dhami Ji should apologise. He should have taken immediate cognisance of it and rendered justice to the victim," he added.
"I invite her to come here. The Delhi government will give her a job as a cook."
The Delhi minister claimed that the Dalit woman was appointed as "Bhojanmata" at the government school through a due process of selection but was removed by the Chief Education Officer of Champawat - RC Purohit - because some of the upper caste students had refused to eat food cooked by her.
The removal of the Dalit woman from her job is an act of "encouraging those who discriminate people on the lines of caste," the AAP Minister said.
Following outrage over her sacking, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and asked authorities to take stern action against the guilty after visiting the school.