Politics over sanitary napkins in MP

Rival parties, Opposition Congress and ruling BJP, now seems to be banking on sanitary napkins to woo women voters in the forthcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, due in November this year.

Both the parties have launched a drive to distribute napkins free of cost to poor women across the state, even as Opposition Congress appeared to make the imposition of 12 per cent Goods and Services Tax on sanitary napkins by the Centre, a poll issue, in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The Congress has launched door-to-door campaign across the state to generate awareness among the women on the “unjustified high GST” on the hygiene napkins by distributing free of cost the napkin pads to the women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.

“We have launched a drive across the state to distribute sanitary napkins to poor women free of cost to create awareness among them on the Centre’s unjustified decision to impose 12 percent GST on it,” MP Mahila Pradesh Congress Committee present Mandvi Chouhan told this newspaper on Friday.

The ruling BJP has too launched a similar drive apparently to woo women voters and counter the “propaganda” by Congress on “unjustified” imposition of GST on the product.

Sanitary napkins, kept in an envelope stamped with party’s symbol, are delivered to BPL women voters free of cost by women Congress workers.