Raking up the December 16 gang rape case and the infamous Tandoor murder case, Narendra Modi on Friday attacked Sonia Gandhi over the issue of security of women and said women are not even safe in the Congress.
In seven states out of ten, as per the statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau, where Congress and alliance are in power, women suffer most and there is not a single Bharatiya Janata Party or alliance-led state identified by the bureau for atrocities on women, Modi said addressing a campaign rally in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur.
"Madam Soniaji, you are a woman. But you have misled the women of this nation. The country wants to know how many atrocities have been committed on women under your government?" he said.
Women of India cannot be safe in the hands of Congress if the women in Congress party themselves are unsafe, Modi said, referring to Latur Congress worker and advocate Kalpana Giri's murder last month.
"I read in newspapers that a female Youth Congress leader disappeared and then her body was found. Youth leaders of your party were arrested in this incident. If women aren't safe in your own party, how will the women of the country be safe?" Modi said.
Congress government failed to utilise money which was given under the Nirbhaya fund, he said. "One innocent girl was gang-raped and killed in Delhi. India suffered global humiliation due to this episode," he said.
"The Union Budget provided for Rs 1,000 crore under the Nirbhaya fund but you have not spent a single Rupee from this fund," Modi said.
Referring to the Naina Sahni Tandoor murder case of 1995, Modi said, "Women are not safe from Tandoor to Latur."
He also referred to the alleged hooliganism of NSUI workers in Nagpur during the national convention in 1984 when they had robbed vendors at Nagpur railway station platform.
Farmers have committed suicide but the government has shown apathy, Modi said. "Our farmers are committing suicide, but the government does not seem to be bothered. Whatever the farmers grow, there should be takers for it and it needs to be bought at a good price," he said.
Modi also appealed to the outlawed Maoists to stop the bloodshed and killing of innocent people in the Gadchiroli and Chandrapur districts, the hot-bed of Naxal activities in Maharashtra.
"Give up arms and join the mainstream. Instead of making the earth red with blood stains of the innocent, let us make it green with the crops," he said.
The senior BJP leader also lashed out at the ruling Congress party alleging that lives of innocent people of Gadchiroli were being put in danger only for playing votebank politics.
"There was a news article in a newspaper where a Congress leader, has promised to decrease police security in Gadchiroli where there is a fear of Maoists. This is a serious matter.
"During elections, the whole police force is under the Election Commission. Is votebank politics so important that lives of innocent people can be put in danger?" he asked.
The Gujarat chief minister alleged that the Congress government never remembered the 'adivasi' (tribal) people and it was the NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee that created a separate ministry for them.
"The adivasis were there during the revolt of 1857. They fought hard for independence. But the Congress government did not remember them after independence. It was Atalji's government, which made a separate ministry for them, so that they could prosper," Modi said.
