Women will unmask BJP’s ‘Nari Shakti’ hypocrisy: SP

Lucknow: Pointing fingers at the BJP for trolling of the wife of navy officer killed in Pahalgam terror attack over her appeal for peace, wielding threat to a ‘courageous woman' for raising voice for brotherhood amid vandalism in Nainital and use of highly objectionable language for women folk singers exposing BJP, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said that it was only the women folk who will expose the BJP's hypocrisy over its 'Nari Shakti Vandan' mask. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was the title that Modi govt had given to the Act tabled in 2023 that sought to reserve one-third of the total seats in Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for women. Akhilesh's reaction came a day after the National Commission for Women (NCW) took note of the troll storm against Himanshi Narwal, wife of Navy officer Lieutenant Vinay Narwal, who was killed in the Pahalgam terror attack. Himanshi had appealed to the people not to be hostile towards Muslims or Kashmiris, for which she was trolled heavily. The commission said it was condemnable and unfortunate that she was being targeted for her opinion. "The NCW should not only limit itself to lip service but also exercise its powers to ensure that its authority is felt," Akhilesh said in a statement issued on Tuesday. The SP chief also referred to hate trolls that followed a video showing a woman in Nainital opposing a crowd that was pointing fingers at the entire Muslim community over the alleged rape of a minor in which the accused was a Muslim. The incident had led to communal violence in Nainital. In his statement, Akhilesh also made an apparent reference to the hate posts that followed Neha Rathore for asking ‘tough questions' to the BJP govt over the Pahalgam attack and wondering why a number of major heinous terror attacks in the past took place when the BJP was in power. "All these women are being openly threatened and highly objectionable language is being used against them but no action is taken against such people," he said."The BJP also tries to project that it values Nari Vandana but that is not true. The fact is that the BJP is against women. This is the time to openly back those gutsy women who are calling the BJP out. It is time to expose the BJP and their Sangi-Sathi of their anti-woman mindset," he added.‘SP will buy JPNIC if govt wants to sell it'Lucknow: Akhilesh Yadav said the BJP govt has come out with its plan to sell off Jai Prakash Narain International Centre (JPNIC) that was built during the Samajwadi Party regime. In such a scenario the SP will seek donations from its cadre and buy the building as it has ideological reasons and emotional attachment with the project. "When the foundation of JPNIC was laid during the SP govt, socialist leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav and George Fernandes among others attended the event. The premises has a museum on socialist ideologue Jai Prakash Narain. It is the best museum on any political personality in the world. Now that govt wants to sell it and if it agrees to sell it to SP, I will appeal to the cadres to donate so that we socialist can buy this building which is a socialist memorial," Akhilesh said.‘Not even a ‘sutli' bomb has been made'Lucknow: Accusing the BJP of acquiring land of farmers in Bundelkhand in the name of defence corridor to manufacture fighter jets, tanks and missiles, Akhilesh Yadav said govt has not been able to manufacture even a Sutli Bomb (firecracker) there. As a result, the central govt was still importing all defence equipment from the international market, he said.