Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Somu Veerraju’s comments on liquor are inappropriate and demeaning to women, Chaitanya Sravanti president Shirin Rehman has said.
A dharna was organised by the NGO protesting against the remarks made by the BJP leader at a party meeting in Vijayawada, at the Gandhi statue, near the GVMC, here on Sunday.
Addressing the women, Dr. Shirin Rehman took exception to the statements of Mr. Veerraju, which she said were disrespectful towards women. She said that women would have appreciated the BJP leader, if he had said that the price of cooking gas would be reduced, instead of saying that the price of liquor would be reduced.
Recalling the agitations conducted by Chaitanya Sravanti for control of liquor in the past, she said that liquor was playing with the health of people. She called for bringing highly concentrated alcohol under the purview of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Dr. Shirin Rehman said that liquor, which has less than 10% ethyl alcohol, could be sold in a controlled manner by the governments. A uniform liquor policy was required for the whole country. She hoped that governments would control liquor that was ruining the health and lives of the people in the form of liver and kidney damage to addicts.
She called for liquor control to realise the dream of Ayushman Bharat.
Earlier, the participants paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi by garlanding his statue.
The women raised slogans against liquor. Chaitanya Sravanti representatives Rukiya Bhanu, Vijaya, Vijaya Kumari, Anasuya, Sharada, Roja, Uma and Lakshmi were among those who led the protest.
