Launching a blistering attack on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Monday, BJP national president Amit Shah said whenever he has visited Odisha during last 18 years, he heard first about the incidents of atrocities on women.
“Mene chauda bar Odisha aya hun, lekin har bar pahle mahila per atyachar baat sun raha hun (I have visited 14 times to Odisha, but at every visit, I heard first the atrocities on women),” said Saha to a huge gathering of women workers in Puri on Monday. Addressing a rally of around 15,000 women in a venue named as at Sradhabali, Shah said Odisha is No. 1 in women assaults in the country during Patnaik’s rule and women are quite unsafe in the State.
Taking a strong note on State’s law and order, he said 14 BJP workers have been killed during the BJD Government.
On Ayusmaan Bharat Yojan, he said Patnaik did not implement it lest PM Modi should not take credit of the biggest ever health insurance scheme for the poor of the country.
However, Shah told that the BJP Government would implement Ayusmann Bharat immediately after coming to power in 2019, exuding confidence of a change of the BJD Government in the coming elections. Saha also took a potshot at the State Government’s failure to purchase harvests of farmers and cited that not a kilo of rice is left unsold in Chhattisgarh.
Stating a hike of minimum support prices of rice and wheat by Rs 200 by Modi, he charged that the poor farmers here are being denied sales, despite thousands of crores by way of sops given by the Centre.
He warned unless the State Government purchases and pays dues to the farmers, the BJP workers would take to the streets.
He criticised the State Government on outbound corruptions and alleged Odisha is being run by some bureaucrats who act to suit the interests of the ruling party. He cautioned them of dire consequences once his party comes to power in the State. Before Shah’s address, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took exception to Chief Minister Patnaik alleging corruption in Ujjwala Yojana in Odisha. Challenging Patnaik to prove corruption, he advised to go to any village and ask any woman. He said 5 crore households in India have already been given free gas cylinders and 34 lakh women in Odisha have been benefited by the scheme.
Among others, national president of Mahila Morcha Vijaya Sahatkar, BJP State president Basant Panda, State Mahila Morcha president Pravati Parida,
BJP floor leader in Assembly KV Singh Deo and actress Aparajita Mohanty took on the State Government for the rising atrocities on women.