After Congress leader and actress Archana Gautam was manhandled by party workers at the Congress headquarters in Delhi and prevented from entering the office, the Congress party has offered a ‘reason’ for doing the same. On 30th September, the Congress party confirmed that Archana Gautam was suspended from the party in June this year. The official X (Twitter) handle of Uttar Pradesh Congress reposted a post of a journalist who shared a suspension letter of Archana Gautam from the party.
Gautam was suspended in June 2023 as a disciplinary action, the letter shows. The confirmation of her suspension from the party came to light following viral videos surfaced on social where Archana Gautam and her father were manhandled by Congress workers at the party headquarters. She later alleged that she was prevented from entering the party headquarters in Delhi, and some female workers of the party misbehaved with her and her father and assaulted them.
The tweet retweeted by UP Congress said, ‘she is not in Congress, she arrived without AICC appointment only to create drama’. Kumar Vikrant Singh had further mentioned, ‘Bigg Boss fame Archana Gautam, who failed to save the deposit by contesting elections from Hastinapur in UP in 2022, was expelled from the party in June 2023 itself. When complaints went up to Priyanka Gandhi, a decision was taken.’
The letter issued in June this year said that she was suspended from the party for six years as she failed to reply to a notice sent to her on 31st May 2023.
Furthermore, a copy of the written complaint filed by Congress workers has also surfaced on social media in which they accused Gautam of threatening party workers of filing false cases. Gautam, who was once the face of the “Ladki Hun Lad Sakti Hun” campaign and was nominated as a candidate from Hastinapur, has been repeatedly in headlines for the wrong reasons.
In the complaint, party workers alleged that during her election campaign, Gautam hired several vehicles but never paid rent for them. After facing a crushing defeat in the elections, she relocated to Mumbai. The car owners kept complaining to local Congress leaders about the pending payments. Despite several attempts by the party officials to contact her, they were not able to get the pending payment.
When Gautam came to Meerut, the party workers confronted her. They added when the workers confronted her for the payment, Gautam allegedly threatened them to invoke the Prevention of Atrocities Act against them. Furthermore, they accused her and her father of forcefully taking building materials from the party office.
In the complaint, they accused Gautam of indulging in actions to stay in the headlines and gave the example of the controversy she created at Tirupati temple last year. Furthermore, they also levelled accusations of trying to extort money from the senior leaders in the party.
Congress workers attack actress Archana Gautam and her father
On 30th September, Archana Gautam alleged that she and her father were physically assaulted during her visit to the Congress headquarters in Delhi. Archana Gautam, known for her appearances on reality shows such as Bigg Boss 16 and Khatron Ke Khiladi, pointed out that the individuals responsible for this violence were affiliated with the Congress party. A video capturing the incident went viral on social media, where she could be seen surrounded by several people yelling at her.
She shared with the media that her purpose of visit to the Congress office was to extend congratulations to the party’s national president, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Priyanka Gandhi, in recognition of the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. Archana Gautam and her father visited the Congress office in Delhi for this. However, some female Congress workers present there prevented her from entering the office, and allegedly misbehaved and manhandled her.
Later she addressed a press conference in Mumbai narrating her ordeal at the Congress office. She said that as she was in Agra for a shooting, she decided to visit the Congress office in Delhi to congratulate the leaders on the Women’s Reservation Bill. She added that she had already informed the office that she would be visiting. But when she reached the Congress office, the gate was shut on her face. “I was told your entry is banned and we have been instructed by senior authorities that you shouldn’t be allowed inside,” she said.
After that she tried to call party leaders but some women from the Congress committee arrived and misbehaved with her, she said. ” There is a way of talking, they started speaking to me angrily and shouting at me. I’d never imagined in my life that such a thing would happen to me,” Archana Gautam added. She alleged that the party workers blocked her car and didn’t let her enter the car, pushed her and pulled her hair, and beat her father.
‘I mean what were they trying to do? Were they trying to kill me in public and then say the mob killed her and there would be no case against them,’ she further said.
Gautam filed case against Priyanka Gandhi’s aide
In March 2023, Gautam’s father filed a case against Congress National General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s PA Sandeep Kumar at Partapur police station, alleging that his daughter was “threatened with death”. As per reports, Archana Gautam went to Raipur, Chhattisgarh, on 26th February 2023 to attend the Congress General Convention on Priyanka Gandhi’s invitation. There she sought time from Priyanka Gandhi’s PA, Sandeep Singh to meet Priyanka Gandhi. However, Singh refused to introduce Gautam to Priyanka. Archana Gautam’s father also alleged Singh used casteist words and indecent language while speaking rudely to his daughter. He also alleged death threats to his daughter.
Archana Gautam, who has appeared in shows like Bigg Boss and Khatron Ke Khiladi, is an actress and Miss Bikini India 2018. She was a Congress candidate from Hastinapur in the 2022 UP Assembly elections. Gautam was the face of “Ladki Hun Lad Sakti Hun Campaign”. Despite Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders’ campaigning for Gautam, she failed to save her deposit and received only 1,519 votes.
