In the face of rising hate crimes and violence, unemployment, and hunger, women are not going to stay quiet anymore!
The frightening regularity with which women and young girls are subjected to violence and abuse in various parts of the country, is a matter of serious concern. Gang-rape, abduction, physical and mental abuse, torture of various kinds, threats of killing and rape are not isolated incidents. Instead they are a part of the larger systemic problem. Concerted efforts have been made in the recent past by certain political groups to show women their ‘true place’. With the political patronage of the BJP-RSS, there has definitely been a spurt in the number and brutality of such incidents against women.
This despite the fact that one of the prime agenda points of the BJP in the 2014 general elections was ‘women’s safety.’
A report released on the 18th April, 2018, by CRY, an NGO working on child rights, states that a sexual offence is committed against a child in India every 15 minutes. Almost 75,000 cases of the rape of women and children were registered in 2016. There has been an 82% spike in the rape of children from 2015 to 2016.
The Thompson Reuters Foundation Report has also ranked India the most dangerous country for women in terms of human trafficking, including sex slavery and domestic servitude, and for customary practices such as forced marriage, stoning and female infanticide.
The Modi regime promised two crore jobs per year, but has not provided jobs to even two lakh per year. In our country where more than 10 lakh job-seekers enter the job market every month, unemployment is at its highest, and women’s work participation rate is the lowest since Independence. 77 per cent of the households in the country have no regular wage/salaried person. According to the Labour Bureau, unemployment rate among the graduate youths (18 to 29 years) increased from 28 per cent to 35 per cent between 2014 and 2015. In addition, demonetisation has resulted in the loss of 90 lakh jobs between October 2016 and October 2017.
The BJP government promised to control price rise but, in fact, prices of essential commodities are skyrocketing and the public distribution system has collapsed. The mandatory linkage of Aadhaar and the elimination of beneficiaries are resulting in starvation deaths.
In addition, the BJP and the fascistic RSS have been unleashing terror by spreading caste and communal hatred and violence. Mob lynching has become the order of the day. Extra-constitutional and self-appointed vigilante groups are having a free rein and roaming scot-free after killing people with impunity. They have taken the law into their hands and have derived tacit support from their political masters. The poison of the communal virus has reached levels of dehumanisation of our society. Upper caste private armies are unleashing cruelty against Dalits, Adivasis and marginalized sections. Attempts to instigate communal riots go on brazenly.
TOWARDS MASSIVE AIDWA DELHI RALLY ON SEPTEMBER 4
Keeping in mind the challenges before women outlined above, the AIDWA has decided to organise a massive All India Women’s Protest Rally in Delhi on September 4. The main issues are the increasing violence and brutality against women, especially girl children, growing unemployment, food security, the grim issue of starvation and malnutrition and the escalating communal and casteist attacks. The rally will be directed against the anti-women and anti-people policies of the BJP-RSS regime led by Modi.
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