NEW DELHI: The rising chorus of protest over the brutal rape and murder of a veterinarian in Telangana and concern over women safety reverberated in the corridors of the Assembly on the first day of Winter Session on Monday.
While Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his fellow Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs voiced ‘deep pain and anguish’ over the Telangana incident, a resolution on women safety was brought in the Assembly.
“Why is it that the mentality of men is becoming increasingly sick and depraved? Our daughters are feeling unsafe. This is an issue of utmost concern and there is simply no room for politics over it. We have announced many steps to ensure women safety in the city, to the extent possible. However, there’s a lot more that remains to be done. We hang our heads in shame when Delhi is labelled as the ‘Rape Capital’ of the country,” the CM said in his address to the House.
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“With the kind of incidents that we are waking up to almost every day, it’s safe to say that there’s a big question mark on women safety. The Telangana incident shows that our men are drifting to a sick mindset. Our government has taken many steps such as installation of CCTVs and deployment of marshalls in buses and the streetlight scheme to make women feel safe. However, law and order is still in the Centre’s domain. Raising slogans such as ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ isn’t enough. The Centre should work to improve the overall law and order situation,” Bhavna Gaur, AAP MLA from Palam, said.
Kejriwal said he would ask his deputy and Education Minister Manish Sisodia to “introduce a subject in schools, which will help students understand the importance of respecting women.”
“Children should be told that they have mothers and sisters at home and it won’t be nice if they became the targets of such incidents. I believe the home minister should sit with us and find out a way to improving law and order in the city,” Kejriwal said.
“The BJP-ruled central government has abjectly failed to ensure women safety,” Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla said.The grisly rape and murder of the Telagana vet has triggered nationwide chorus for exemplary action against the culprits.
BJP MLAs walkout over ‘dirty water’
Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta and other BJP MLAs raised the issue of “dirty water” being allegedly supplied in the city on the first day of Assembly’s Winter Session on Monday. However, they staged a walkout after their request for a discussion on the matter was turned down. As the House proceedings began, Gupta and three BJP legislators — Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Om Prakash Sharma and Jagdish Pradhan — showed bottles filled with “dirty water” that they had brought. “We wanted to have a discussion on the supply of dirty water in Delhi. We had submitted two requests — calling attention motion and adjournment motion — to discuss the issue,” the veteran BJP MLA told reporters.