Naveen Patnaik accuses BJP of jeopardizing women’s safety in Odisha

Leader of the Opposition and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) President Naveen Patnaik on Thursday lashed out at the BJP-led government in Odisha accusing it of jeopardizing the safety and security of women since it came to power in June 2024.

Taking part in a special session of the Assembly convened to discuss the hundred and thirty first Constitutional Amendment Bill, he expressed anguish over the unsafe environment in the state for women, saying. “I am pained to raise a serious matter concerning the rights and dignity of women in our state today”.

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Launching a sharp attack on Mohan Majhi-led BJP government, he reiterated that the BJP government in the state has no right to speak of women’s dignity and empowerment as the governance has been reduced to narratives and optics.

Stating that the CM Majhi should do some soul searching before making any more statements in this regard, the five-time Chief Minister Patnaik raised the unsavory incident of the exhuming of a woman’s skeleton by her family and carrying it to the bank to prove her death in order to claim her rightful dues. That this brutal incident has happened in the CM’s own constituency is a reminder of the shocking state of affairs in Odisha, he averred.

Odisha‘s head hangs in shame over such a shocking incident. Even though numerous visits had been made by her brother after her death to officials to complete the bank formalities, they kept harassing him asking for proof of her death. What is more appalling is that after presenting her skeleton to the bank as proof, he had to again carry her back home on foot.

It shows complete apathy and zero accountability of the administration supported by a completely insensitive state government, he stated in a strongly-worded speech on the floors of the Assembly.

This is the state of our women today. The double engine Government with banking as a central subject and an insensitive state Government has utterly failed the people of our State. Such inhumane governance has never been witnessed in the history of Odisha.

Highlighting breakdown of law and order in the state, he noted that “for the first time, the United States of America issued an advisory to its citizens not to visit Odisha expressing concern over the atrocities on women”

Commenting on the women’s reservation, he maintained that “the women’s reservation Bill was passed unanimously in Parliament in 2023. The BJD had supported this Bill in Parliament and even today we demand that it be implemented immediately.”.

Stressing that BJD always stood for women’s empowerment, he further stated that “Odisha under former chief minister Biju Patnaik was one of the first states to implement 33% reservation for women in all local bodies in Odisha. In 2011 the then BJD Government increased it to 50 %. “We have also given 33% tickets to women for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and 2024. Can the BJP say it has done the same? Apart from paying lip service to women’s rights and creating false narratives on the issue trying to fool the public, the BJP in Odisha has done nothing else. I remind you once again, that people cannot be fooled all the time.”

Linking the women’s reservation Bill, which is already passed in Parliament, to the delimitation Bill is a clandestine act to push delimitation without discussion of facts, he pointed out.

Calling it a matter of concern that the BJP is spreading misinformation on such an important issue that affects the distinct identity and political voice of Odisha, he added that this delimitation bill seeks to reduce the political rights of our people especially of future generations.