CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Under the leadership of Madhya Pradesh Women’s Congress President Vibha Patel, a state-level event was held at Roshanpura Square in Bhopal as part of the Nari Nyay Andolan (Women’s Justice Movement). Through this movement, the Women’s Congress raised various issues such as economic, social, and sexual harassment, women’s reservation, caste-based census, rising crimes against women, unchecked inflation, and the deteriorating health system. A protest was organized, and a memorandum was submitted to the Governor.
During the protest, women climbed the barricades placed to prevent them from moving beyond Roshanpura and shouted slogans against the government. Some women jumped over the barricades and marched towards Raj Bhavan. During this time, there were intense altercations and scuffles with female police officers, and in the midst of this, Women’s Congress President Vibha Patel fainted and fell to the ground. Seeing this, the female activists took care of her. Despite the resistance, the women continued their march to Raj Bhavan on foot, making it difficult for the police to detain them.
Mukesh Nayak, former minister and head of the State Congress Media Department, stated that women’s reservation should be implemented to secure their rights. Former minister Sajjan Singh Verma highlighted the atmosphere of fear and insecurity among women in the state, with daily incidents of rape and misconduct. Former minister P.C. Sharma emphasized that the Nari Nyay Andolan, being carried out by Congress across the state, aims to raise awareness among women about their rights and will also be extended to district and block levels to awaken the government.
Vibha Patel called for strong laws for women’s safety and their full implementation. She noted the increasing graph of atrocities and rapes against women in the state and demanded that the Women’s Reservation Act be immediately implemented, providing 33% reservation specifically for women from backward classes. She also called for a caste-based census for social equality and justice, economic empowerment for women’s livelihoods, and financial assistance of one lakh rupees annually or 8,500 rupees monthly for one woman in every poor family under the Nari Nyay initiative.
Vibha Patel further demanded that discrimination against women be eliminated, and the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’ be enforced. She called for stringent laws to create a sense of fear among criminals to curb incidents of atrocities and rapes. Additionally, she demanded the immediate start of social security pensions for destitute and abandoned women, widows, elderly women, and the re-enrollment of names removed from the Ladli Bahna Yojana. She also called for the termination of the smart meter scheme and doubling the contribution of the central government to the wages/honorarium of health workers.
Vibha Patel announced that this state-level Nari Nyay Andolan was part of a call from the All India Women’s Congress to demand women’s rights and that similar movements would be organized at the district level in the future.
The event was also addressed by Congress leaders Arun Srivastava, MLA Arif Masood, MLA Sena Patel, Praveen Saxena, Rajkumar Patel, Deepchand Yadav, Shabista Zaki, and others. Among the attendees were former Women’s Congress President Archana Jaiswal, spokesperson Roshni Yadav, and several other Women’s Congress officials, district presidents, and thousands of women from across the state.
