Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), TMC and DMK for stalling the women’s reservation Bill in Parliament, and assured women that he would ensure that their right to reservation in legislative bodies was implemented.
“I have come to seek blessings from all women for the beginning of a maha yagya,” he at a women’s conference in his Lok Sabha constituency. “As the parliamentarian from Kashi, as Prime Minister, I need your blessings to achieve a major goal in the national interest — implementing reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.”
The Prime Minister hit out at the SP, alleging that it was “difficult for daughters to come out of their houses” during the party’s rule in Uttar Pradesh. He said “pariwarwadi” (dynastic) parties like the Congress, SP, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and DMK have “betrayed women” once again.
“These pariwarwadi parties do not want daughters to reach the Assembly or the Lok Sabha. These parties have applied the brakes on women’s reservation for the last 40 years,” Modi said, according to PTI.
He said increasing women’s participation was also a key consideration behind the construction of the new Parliament building and the first major step taken there was to pass the women’s reservation law.
He asserted that after a law is enacted, it must be implemented, adding that discussions and legislative measures were brought in Parliament recently to ensure an early implementation of the law on women’s reservation.
Modi said he was satisfied that women across the country had recognised “these intentions” of Opposition parties, citing the high turnout of women voters in the Assembly polls of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
The Prime Minister said when a woman was empowered within a household, it strengthened the family, society and the country.
Referring to past challenges, he said women, including those in Varanasi, had to struggle a lot, facing numerous social constraints and questions about their capabilities.
Switching briefly to a mix of a regional dialect and Bhojpuri, Modi said women and girls were often told, “What will you achieve by doing all this? You will not be able to do it.” At times, he added, they were not even asked but simply told that certain tasks were beyond their capabilities.
The Prime Minister said such experiences were not limited to Varanasi but were common across the country and were often accepted as normal. “When I became Chief Minister of Gujarat about 25 years ago, I first tried to change such mindsets,” he said.
Modi said two major schemes for girls were launched at the time — one to ensure greater enrolment in schools and prevent dropouts, and another to provide financial assistance through a dedicated fund for girls’ education. “Since then, women’s welfare has remained a top priority in our policies,” he said.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
