‘CM’s gender equality talk only targeted at Muslim women’

LUCKNOW: Senior office-bearer of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) Sudha Sundaraman said on Sunday that the UP government was only talking about women’s rights without doing anything at the grassroots. Addressing a press conference in the state capital, Sundaraman expressed resentment towards the government’s policies regarding women.

On the issue of triple talaq, she alleged that the government was trying to communalise the issue. “UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath plans to carry out a survey of Muslim women to gauge their keenness to get rid of triple talaq. Muslim women groups across the country have been campaigning for years against this practice and have filed several cases in courts, including the Supreme Court. The CM's statement about gender equality is only targeted at Muslim women while he remains significantly silent on the abysmal status of Hindu women in the state,” she said. Madhu Garg, state president of AIDWA said, “UP has recorded a significant rise in crimes and killings in the name of ‘honour’. Young people who dare to assert their right to choose their partner are ruthlessly harassed and tortured. In fact, the Hindu Yuva Vahini, formed by Yogi Adityanath, has barged into a home and brutally assaulted a young couple who were together.” The AIDWA officials asserted said that UP's Land Reform Act denies women a right to their share in agricultural land. The AIDWA office bearers also criticised the state government’s ‘Anti-Romeo squads’, saying they hindered women’s right to making their choice and were “impacting friendships in the state”.