Hundreds of workers of the Ganjam district BJP Mahila Morcha led by its president Babita Patra staged a rally here and held a demonstration at the city’s busiest Courtpeta Square near Kamapalli on Friday in protest against the barbaric incident of rape of a physically-challenged woman near the Jagannath Temple in Puri on Wednesday. They burnt effigies of five Ministers, Arun Sahu, Atun Sabyasachi Nayak, Sanjay Dasburma, Puspendra Singh Deo and Pranab Prakash Das and Puri MlA and Nabakalebar infrastructure committee president Maheswar Mohanty as this shocking incident occurred when these Ministers were camping in Puri to oversee the Ratha Yatra preparatons.
The Morcha members chanted slogans against the Naveen Patnaik Government and its “anti-women policy”. The shocking incident of rape is a clear indicator of the complete breakdown of the law and order machinery not only in Puri but also in the entire State, they alleged. The police have become defunct and are working in the interest and at the behest of the ruling party, they said.The rape incident has also raised a question mark about the ability of the Government to conduct the upcoming Nabakalebar Rath Yatra and the safety of the women folk, they maintained.The Morcha members demanded resignation of Chief Minister Patnaik and law Minister Arun Sahu.A large number of senior BJP leaders, including district president BK Swain, Rama Chandra Panda and Saroj joined the protest march.