In 2014, the BJP was voted to energy. In the final decade, the response of the federal government to points of girls’s security couldn’t have been extra insensitive and callous. Take the latest instance of the wrestlers’ protest. India’s main ladies wrestlers took to the streets to protest towards sexual misconduct by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. And these allegations weren’t made by one girl. There have been a complete of seven complainants initially, together with by a minor. The solely acceptable response by any authorities would have been to sack Singh and arrest him instantly, pending trial. The Centre went forward and did the alternative, making each effort to trivialise the abuse and discredit the wrestlers. No try has been made to arrest Singh both. After the wrestlers protested for months, and solely underneath strict instructions of the Supreme Court, did Delhi Police proceed with the case. Even after the police instructed the court docket that Singh “outraged the modesty” of the ladies wrestlers at each alternative, PM Modi remained silent and took no motion towards him.

Nowhere was the central authorities’s disdain for ladies extra starkly seen than throughout its reprehensible pardoning and untimely launch of 11 males who have been convicted for the gangrape of Bilkis Bano. Not solely have been they convicted of gangrape, however in addition they brutally murdered seven members of her household, together with her three-year-old daughter. These are the boys the present dispensation deemed match to be launched again into society, forward of the Gujarat elections final 12 months.

The Supreme Court even warned the Gujarat authorities that it’s on skinny ice. It remarked “How far this rule — giving a chance to hardened criminals to reform — by releasing them after 14 years is being applied to other prisoners? Why is the policy being applied selectively? Opportunity to reform and reintegrate should be given to all. How far is this being implemented? Why are our prisons overflowing? Give us data.” This inexplicable motion of each the Gujarat and central authorities is just not solely a harrowing blow to Bilkis Bano, however it’s also a slap within the face of each girl of this nation, who was made to really feel that her security is just not even up for consideration.

Last month, convicted rapist Gurmeet Ram Rahim was given a 21-day parole by the Haryana authorities. What is much more shameful is that he has been granted parole a complete of eight occasions since 2020 and spent 184 days out of jail. Why is the Haryana authorities rolling out the pink carpet for Ram Rahim? He is a strong and influential cult chief who can show to be a menace to the victims.

Crimes towards ladies rose by 15.3 per cent in 2021 from the earlier 12 months, based on the most recent knowledge launched by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), with 4,28,278 instances registered in 2021 following 3,71,503 instances in 2020. A complete of three,75,058 ladies (above the age of 18) went lacking in India in 2021. These statistics ought to have despatched alarm bells ringing on the Centre, however PM Modi refuses to a lot as deal with crimes towards ladies. Earlier this 12 months, when stunning movies got here out of Manipur which revealed militants parading ladies bare on the streets, the BJP authorities’s response was to clamp down on web providers.

Women’s security can solely be addressed when there may be political will on the prime. Unfortunately, the BJP appears to be unable to see something past the subsequent scheduled election and is barely in marketing campaign mode. A accountable celebration, just like the Congress, would make ladies’s security a ballot subject, however for the BJP, that is nowhere a precedence.

It is time we band collectively as a society and ask robust questions of the federal government. To distract, divide and rule has been the modus operandi of the BJP. It is as much as us to not take the bait. It is as much as us to ask our authorities what steps they’re taking to make sure ladies’s security. Just like employment, inflation, and the economic system, this must change into a ballot subject. It’s time to ask the robust questions and never accept “jumlas” in return. The security of India’s daughters hangs within the stability!

The author is nationwide spokesperson, Indian National Congress