The tri-annual meeting of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) organised the eleventh edition of their national-level convention in Bhopal on Saturday, with Kerala chief minister Pinarai Vijayan in attendance.
The convention will conclude on December 15.
Addressing the gathering, Vijayan accused BJP-governed states of being “run by RSS activists”. “Nagpur, the headquarters of RSS, is not far from Madhya Pradesh. They have a huge influence here too. The Madhya Pradesh government has employed RSS-influenced people at all high positions. And therefore, scams like Vyapam and issues like the SIMI encounter are not being resolved... The communal dispensation of the RSS across the country is so grave that people are paying a huge price in different forms, demonetisation being one of them.”
Vijayan compared Kerala and Madhya Pradesh and spoke how the latter was performing poorly as far as gender-equality is concerned.
“The condition of women in Kerala was very bad and we had to work for equal opportunities for their education, health and overall welfare... The government of Madhya Pradesh is not able to prove itself on these fronts. Women are delivering (babies) outside hospitals, getting raped and are being murdered in this state,” he said.
Radhika Vemula — the mother of Rohit Vemula, the Hyderabad University PhD scholar who committed suicide in January — also spoke at the event. “The year 2016 will never be forgotten. My son died and like him, so many people are dying now. When somebody kills a person, he is called a murderer. Today, because of demonetisation, around 100 people have lost their lives across the country, what do you call (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi now?” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Radhika Vemula — the mother of Rohit Vemula, the Hyderabad University PhD scholar who committed suicide in January — also spoke at the event. “The year 2016 will never be forgotten. My son died and like him, so many people are dying now. When somebody kills a person, he is called a murderer. Today, because of demonetisation, around 100 people have lost their lives across the country, what do you call (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi now?” she said.
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