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SHILLONG: The president of All India Mahila Congress, Sushmita Deb lambasted Union Minister and BJP leader, Smriti Irani for throwing poor light on the security of women in the state.
“What business have you got to come to Meghalaya and talk about women security? And please explain why BJP MPs and RSS say that women are a baby making machine?” she said while addressing a press conference on Sunday at Congress Bhavan.
“Meghalaya is a progressive state. In the society here, women play an important role. You cannot raise the issue of one rape to say that in Meghalaya women are unsafe,” she said.
Referring to the rape case allegedly committed by jailed former legislator, Julius Dorphang, she said, “Rape is rape. We condemn it.”
Asserting that Irani visited Meghalaya to highlight the rape of a girl, Deb said, “I would like to tell her that the biggest sex scandal in the history of India has happened in the state of Gujarat, in Kutch what we call the Naliya Kand.”
She added that it is the biggest sex racket where women were sexually abused in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s own state and asserted that though he visited Kutch but never mentioned about the incident.
Referring to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report since the month of September and that crime against women have gone up all over India by pointing to incidents in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, she alleged that all BJP ruled states are seeing the highest rate of rape and other crimes against women.
She added that Modi has been silent on the rape issues in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Commenting on the women’s reservation bill, Dev said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite his majority in the Lok Sabha has till today not brought the women’s reservation bill.”
“But I want to ask Smriti Irani and Modi that you believe in women empowerment; why haven’t you brought the women reservation bill,” she added.
“What is the excuse of Narendra Modi ji with 282 MP’s? Why doesn’t he bring it? So, the solution to this problem lies with Modi’s Government and he not solving it,” she added.
She added that on September 28 last year, former Congress president, Sonia Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister saying that bring the bill, Congress as the leading opposition party will support the bill.
“Have you ever heard that a principal opposition party writing to the prime minister to say that bring a bill and we will support it? But, we have done it,” she added.
However, she exuded confidence that in 2019, Congress will come back to power assured to bring the bill and recalled that Congress has brought women to the Panchayat through reservation and Municipalities through reservation.
Deb questioned Modi on the under-utilisation of Nirbhaya fund which was started by Congress led UPA government. “Today they have no answer to it,” she said.
She asserted that Irani should address the mindset on the comment made by BJP leaders Sakshi Maharaj, RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat, that women are only meant to reproduce.
Slamming the Ujjala scheme of Modi by terming it a most regressive mindset, she said, “Modi said that he has given 2 crore women dignity by giving them Ujjala gas. Today, can you connect the dignity of women to a gas cylinder?”
She added that if the ideology of RSS and BJP is allowed to be penetrated in Meghalaya, “They will take you 20 years back to the kitchen.”