Demanding the strictest provisions of law to ensure security to women in society, Punjab’s former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Wednesday said that “rapists must be hanged”, and ways must be found to put a permanent end to cases of atrocities against women in the country.
Badal also expressed “grave concern over the growing communal virus in the country” saying that peace and communal harmony needed to be the top priority of all governments at the Centre and the states.
Speaking in the backdrop of the Unnao and Kathua tragedies, Badal said that no mercies needed to be shown even to those who supported the guilty of raping women. “The dignity of a woman is the first mark of a civilized country. In that respect, we need to get together to ensure that the severest and prompt punishment is handed down to those indulging in inhuman crimes against women and also those supporting these criminals,” he said.
The former Chief Minister expressed concern over the communal climate in the country saying that the resolve of governments needed to be demonstrated in the strongest way to deal with those trying to endanger communal bonds and to disturb peace.
Badal said that throughout his tenure as Chief Minister, he made a review of situation on peace and communal harmony as also on the status of women in our society a daily feature.
Referring to the “growing specter of unemployment of youth in the country”, Badal said that while the governments could not provide jobs to everyone, they could certainly create conditions in which the youth is skilled to enhance their employability.
Unemployment must be fought on a war footing or it could cause serious law and order problems in days to come, he stressed.
Also pushing for the need to initiate steps to make agriculture a remunerative profession, Badal said that the farmers are facing an uncertain future, and this must be dealt with as an area of the highest priority.
Calling for free media as a pre-requisite for democracy, Badal said that no democracy could succeed without freedom of the press. “There have been threats to the freedom of the ‘fourth pillar’ of democracy and these challenges come in many shapes including attempts to either browbeat or purchase the conscience of the media,” he said adding that he and his party had always been in the forefront for the fight for the freedom of the press.