Bhubaneswar: Congress women members took out candlelight rallies in different parts of Odisha in search of missing women and children at railway stations and bus stands Wednesday evening.
The women Congress members held a candlelight rally in the city as directed by OPCC president Bhakta Charan Das.
“Our women members are searching for 60,000 women and children who vanished from the state in the recent past,” Das told reporters, adding that similar programmes were organised by the district Congress in various districts across Odisha on Tuesday evening.
Addressing the women gathering before the candlelight rally at Master Canteen Square here, Das said that the state could not progress when 50 per cent of its population was “unsafe”.
“Think of the families who have been searching for their missing women and girls. They are not getting any help from the government and the police,” the OPCC president said.
Slogans were raised at the bus stand and railway station on the issue of harassment, rape, murder and missing women.
Das alleged that the BJP government is “indifferent” to the problems of women and that women are not getting justice.
He also alleged that the BJP government in the state is physically attacking Congress leaders and workers for demanding justice for women. “As long as the abused and raped women of Odisha do not get justice, the agitation programme will continue and the struggle will not stop,” he said.
The OPCC president warned that if the Mohan Charan Majhi government does not solve the problem and continues with repressive measures, then the Congress will further intensify its agitation. After this, the women Congress workers will take out a procession with candles to every village, town and village to express their dissatisfaction against the BJP government.
The Congress has been agitating both inside the Assembly and outside demanding formation of a House Committee to inquire into 1,200 cases of crimes against women registered at different police stations in the state.
