Shimla, April 22 Announcing to hold a "Jan Aakrosh Padyatra" in Shimla on Thursday, Himachal Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajeev Bindal on Wednesday criticised the Congress and the state government, saying that developments over the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam have completely exposed its 'anti-women' mindset.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened a special session of the Parliament with the historic objective of ensuring women's participation in governance, but the Congress and its allies had collectively crushed this transformative opportunity.
Bindal told the media here that over the past decade the Narendra Modi government has taken several concrete steps towards women's empowerment and the time had now come to extend that empowerment into decision-making roles.
He said this was the moment to hand over the key of governance to 50 per cent of the population, but instead the Congress "stabbed 700 million women in the back".
He accused the Congress of delaying women's reservation for more than four decades and then opposing it when the opportunity for implementation finally arrived.
According to Bindal, celebrating the fall of the Bill and distributing sweets clearly reflected the anti-women character of the Congress.
Targeting Congress leaders in Himachal Pradesh, the State BJP President said they "are deliberately avoiding a clear stand on the issue and resorting to evasive statements".
He asserted that this "amounts to open support for denying women their rightful participation and warned that the women of Himachal Pradesh will respond strongly".
Announcing that the "Jan Aakrosh Padyatra" would be held on April 23, he said thousands of women will come out on the streets against the Congress.
He emphasised that "this is not merely a protest but a decisive movement for women's dignity, rights and rightful representation".
Speaking on another issue, Bindal accused the state government of attempting to delay and manipulate Panchayati Raj and urban local body elections.
He alleged that the Congress government tried every possible tactic to avoid elections and undermine constitutional processes.
He said that the Election Commission had to submit a 35-page report to the Governor Kavinder Gupta highlighting the lack of cooperation from the state government, which, he said, was an attempt to hold democracy hostage and was ultimately corrected through judicial intervention.
Bindal also alleged that funds allocated to Panchayats and urban local bodies under the Finance Commission were forcibly diverted by the state government.
He said money meant for grassroots development was taken away, bringing development works to a standstill, and added there is still no clarity on how and where these funds were spent.
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