PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Miffed at their parties for their stance on women’s reservation, leaders from the Congress and other parties formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party here on Saturday. Speaking on the occasion, the BJP State president and Rajya Sabha member Mahendra Bhatt said that the time has come for half of the nation’s population to teach political parties a lesson for depriving them of their rights. Those who joined the BJP unanimously criticised the parties which had opposed the passing of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in the parliament. Those who joined the party include former Rudraprayag district Panchayat chairwoman Lakshmi Rana, Uttarakhand Mahila Congress senior vice president and former chairwoman of Rudrapur municipal council Meena Sharma and former Ghansali Vidhan Sabha candidate Darshan Lal Arya, among others.
Addressing the new entrants in the party, Bhatt said that with the support of the public, a lesson will be taught in a democratic manner to those who had stood in the way of women’s rights.
He claimed that considerable progress is being achieved by the double-engine government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The State government is committed to the welfare of youths, women, the poor and farmers, and is progressing swiftly in the direction of making Uttarakhand a developed State. He said that major steps had been taken for women empowerment in Uttarakhand, including 30 per cent reservation in government jobs, schemes like Lakhpati Didi and other measures.
BJP State general secretary Deepti Rawat Bharadwaj said that the party had also accorded priority to the upliftment, digity and self-reliance of women. Various public welfare schemes of the Central and State governments have brought about major positive changes in the lives of women, she claimed.
Addressing the gathering, Sharma said that the injustice meted out by the Congress to women empowerment in the parliament had been replicated by the party with its leaders in the State. She said that the party leaders had humilitated her when she had questioned injustice. “I have joined the BJP to raise the voice for women’s empowerment and support the government’s development works,”she said.
