BHUBANESWAR: Turning the heat on the BJP government a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, the Congress on Thursday constituted an all-women five-member fact-finding team to visit Odisha and submit a report on the alleged rise in atrocities against women in the state.
The initiative comes in the wake of the gang-rape of a college girl on Gopalpur beach in Ganjam district on Sunday.
“In light of the horrific rape incident reported from Gopalpur in Odisha, the increasing cases of atrocities against women, and the disturbing number of women reported missing - numbering in thousands over the past few years - Congress president has deputed a fact-finding team to visit Odisha and submit a comprehensive report on the situation,” AICC general secretary, organisation, KC Venugopal, said in a statement.
Congress general secretary Deepa Dasmunshi is convenor of the panel which includes three MPs - Ranjeet Ranjan, Praniti Shinde and S Jothimani. Former Mahila Congress president Shobha Oza is the other member.
To amplify the issue at the national level, the All India Mahila Congress also held a press conference, addressed jointly by All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba, Odisha Mahila Congress president Minakshi Bahinipati and party MLA Sofia Firdous, at the AICC headquarters in Delhi on the day.
Lamba lambasted the BJP government for what she called a poor track record in maintaining law and order, especially when the chief minister is in charge of the Home department. “If you look at Odisha’s report card of 11 months, 15 rape cases are reported here everyday; in 10 months, 4,500 daughters are pleading for justice in different places of the state, and in 11 months, 28,000 women and daughters of the state have become victims of atrocities. Where do criminals get so much courage from?” she asked.
Launching a scathing attack on the BJP government, Firdous said it is still spreading fake narrative even after 10 people gangraped a girl in an international tourist destination like Gopalpur.
“It is very saddening that we repeatedly have to protest over crime against women. Earlier, all the Congress MLAs were suspended from the Assembly because we demanded a house committee to deal with the increasing cases of crime against women,” she said.
Meanwhile, president of Pradesh Congress Committee Bhakta Charan Das said the party wanted to know if PM Modi will visit Gopalpur and Keonjhar. “We will welcome the prime minister’s visit to the state if he meets families of the rape victims of Gopalpur and Keonjhar, and improve law and order in the state,” he added.
Instead of propagating the so-called successes of the past 11 years of governance at the Centre, the focus should be on addressing the problems faced by the neglected people of the state where people dying of cholera as the double-engine government failed to provide safe drinking water to the people, he added.