the goan I network
PANAJI
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will make concerted efforts to spike representation for women in various elections due in the country soon, the party’s National Mahila Morcha president Vijaya Rahatkar claimed on Monday.
“In the upcoming elections we will try to get more and more tickets for women in Goa and rest of the country,” Rahatkar said at a press conference she addressed after the executive committee meeting of the Goa unit of BJP’s Mahila Morcha. Besides Rahatkar, the BJP’s Mahila Morcha State-level executive meeting held at the Institute Menezes Braganza Hall, was also attended by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and Union Ayush minister, Shripad Naik.
Claiming that the BJP had given highest number of tickets to women among all political parties in India, Rahatkar said the party’s internal structure has more reservation
for women.
At least 33 per cent of internal party positions were held by women who are playing their role efficiently in the internal decision-making process, she said.
Acknowledging that higher number of women were participating in politics now than ever before, Rahatkar said, the BJP was making efforts to further increase the political emancipation.
Taking a dig at the Congress on women’s reservation, Rahatkar said that it was the BJP that had tabled the women reservation bill for the first time during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Unfortunately it did not get the requisite support at that time to become law, she said.
Rahatkar said, the BJP will target to have at least 10 active women members in each booth. Work in this direction has already begun in 1,400 of Goa’s 1650 booths.
Asked about whether issues like casino, prostitution, gambling were discussed in the meeting Rahatkar said that the meeting was purely for organisational matters and that all State-related issues will be discussed in due course.
Asked to comment on the rising crimes against women scenario in the country, Rahatkar said it is bad and should stop. She said, the Centre had effected major changes in the Posco Act as a deterrent.
She also highlighted the Central government’s role in the Supreme Court declaring Triple Talak illegal and said it would also strongly oppose the Halala practice among the Muslim community in the proceedings of the Apex Court.
