BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday slammed the state government for rising atrocities against women and its failure to provide justice to victims.
Addressing the extended executive committee meeting of the state BJP Mahila Morcha here, Pradhan said the rising crime graph in the recently published report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has put Odisha to shame.
Dubbing the BJD government as the most inefficient and corrupt, the Union minister said as per the NCRB report, the state has the dubious distinction of highest number of women atrocity cases. This has tarnished the image of Odisha.
It is a matter of grave concern that the state government has turned a blind eye even to serious allegations levelled by women leaders of BJD against their party’s leaders. Pradhan called upon members of BJP Mahila Morcha to launch a statewide agitation against the anti-women attitude of the government.
He further said many leaders of the BJD are facing serious criminal charges but no action has been initiated against them. Highlighting the women-centric initiatives of the Narendra Modi government, Pradhan said the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will set the tone for women-led development as a way forward for the nation.
He exhorted the Mahila Morcha to increase the strength of women at booth level reach out to every household and inform women about the welfare programmes launched by the Prime Minister in the last few years. “The vision of Modi for a developed Odisha and Bharat will be fulfilled when women of the state take the lead”, he added.
State Mahila Morcha president Aswaria Biswal said the union government is bearing seven per cent interest of financial assistance provided to women's self-help groups but the state government has been misleading them by claiming to provide interest-free loans.
State BJP president Manmohan Samal, Opposition chief whip Mohan Charan Majhi and general secretary (organisation) Manas Mohanty also addressed the meeting. Asserting the Modi government will put all those looting public money behind bars, the union minister said no one, no matter how mighty he/she may be, will be spared.