Members of the State unit of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), the women’s wing of the Communist Party of India, on Saturday staged a protest demanding justice for the 19-year-old Dalit woman from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh who died after being allegedly gang-raped two weeks ago.
The members called attention to the growing atrocities against women in general in the last few years. They carried steel plates with saris, bangles, flowers and fruits, as a symbolic gesture to condemn police inaction in the Hathras case.
State general secretary of the Federation P. Durga Bhavani launched a sharp attack on the Central government.
“Under the NDA government, cows are safer than women and Dalits. The Hathras case is a reflection of the breakdown of law and order in the country. ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ has been reduced to a mere slogan as there has been a spurt in cases of sexual assault and rape in the last six years,” she said.
She alleged that while women were being targeted, the Modi government was busy implementing its ‘Hindutva’ agenda, dividing people of the country on religious lines.
The protesters recalled that Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani had presented bangles to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Nirbhaya case, and said that they were repeating the act today to show the mirror to the ruling party at the Centre.
They demanded immediate suspension of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and stringent action against the culprits in the case.
