Woman sarpanch rushes towards PM, taken away

A MINOR disruption marked the Swachh Shakti event in Gandhinagar on Wednesday to celebrate the International Women’s Day as a woman sarpanch from Uttar Pradesh, who tried to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was stopped by security personnel. The incident took place when Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was about to address the gathering of nearly 6,000 women sarpanchs from across the country.

The woman sarpanch, identified as Shalini Singh, rushed towards the dais, shouting, “Mujhe PM Modi se milna hai (I want to meet PM Modi).” She was immediately stopped by the security personnel and taken out of the auditorium.

In another minor row, a sarpanch from Kerala’s Wayanad district, Shaharbana, alleged that she was asked by security personnel to remove her hijab before entering Mahatma Mandir.

Gandhinagar SP Virendra Singh Yadav, however, said: “The woman sarpanch was checked as per the security drill at the women’s enclosure where women constables were deployed. All participants had been issued photo identity cards, which were to be checked at the security enclosure. She was asked to show her face simply to match with her photo identity card.”

In his address, the PM rated women sarpanchs “very high above their male counterparts”. He said, “Experience says that female sarpanchs are more dedicated towards their work. She has focus, while a male sarpanch is involved in 50 other things. Although he has been elected as a sarpanch, he also thinks of going to zila parishad. If in zila parishad, he dreams of going to the Assembly. But women first try to complete the work assigned to them with full dedication.”