How Beti Bachao campaign failed to live up to its claim in Modi’s home turf Varanasi

As female students of the BHU were beaten by male cops, the entire campaign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Beti Bachao Beto Padhao, has come under the scanner.

There is something about all the campaigns started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With their catchy one-liners and tall claims, right from Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission), Make in India to Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (Save Girl Child, Educate Girl Child) movements, no former PM like Modi has probably ever launched so many flashy and equally relevant social and economic crusades with the intent of changing the very face of India.

Over the years, all these campaigns have become synonymous with Modi as the PM has been relentlessly speaking about issues ranging from making India clean to saving India's daughters at various national and international platforms.

One campaign which even Modi's detractors did not even dare to criticise is the Beti Bachao Beti Padho, since it has the power to uplift millions of Indian women and girls from the shackles of patriarchy, dominance, illiteracy, financial dependence, sexual abuse and every day struggles.

But now as we look around us, the campaign (no doubt started with the right purpose of saving girl children who are still being killed in the foetus because of country's great obsession with male children and end large-scale illiteracy among girl children which have led to women's financial dependence on men) has lost its relevance in the political rhetoric.

There are various estimates for female foeticide. One group says more than 10 million female foetuses may have been illegally aborted in India since 1990s, and 500,000 girls were being lost annually due to female foeticide.

According to another study, an estimated 100,000 abortions every year continue to be performed in India solely because the foetus is female.

As per the 2011 Census report, India has a literacy rate of 74.04 per cent. While the male literacy rate is 82.14 per cent, the female literacy rate is 65.46 per cent.

All the figures related to female foeticide and women illiteracy highlight social and economic gaps between India's men and women.

If India can substantially control female foeticide and female illiteracy, it would not only help more and more women to take over public spaces and assert their existence by achieving economic independence, but would also propel India's growth rate as an economic power in the world stage.

Thus, women empowerment is not specifically a gender issue, but should be a national priority if India wants to rub its shoulders with powerful nations like the US, China, Japan and Germany.

So, when we see a well-educated and brave woman like Varnika Kundu being stalked by Vikas Barala, the "goon-son" of Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Subhash Barala, and his friend Ashish Kumar or the beating of girl students by male police personnel at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Modi's constituency, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, as they "dared" to protest against eve-teasing in the campus, we can't help but see the farce nature of the campaign, Beti Bachao, which has become mere sloganeering for our politicians and is far away from being practiced at the ground level.

According to reports, girl students have been frequently harassed within the precincts of the university since long. Moreover, the female students in the hostels of the BHU are subjected to internet and food ban (they are not allowed to eat non-vegetarian food) and early curfew timings. None of these restrictions are being imposed on male students of the university.

It seems the university is a microcosm of 'modern' India, where men are pampered to the hilt and women are deprived of their basic rights and subjected to sexual harassment on a daily basis.

When women students are subjected to injustices in a university in Modi's constituency, they become more glaring because if the home turf of the country's PM is not safe for women, then where does India's betis live without fear?

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has demanded an apology from Modi for police action against students in the BHU. The Congress VP said the PM should tender apology as the incident took place in his constituency, Varanasi.

"The incident in the BHU is the BJP's version of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. And, when they (girls) demand their rights, beat them up. This incident happened in the PM's constituency. Modiji should apologise to the students of the BHU and take immediate action," Rahul told reporters in Jamnagar, Gujarat, on Monday.

Attaching a link to a video of woman students, who alleged they were beaten up by policemen, Rahul tweeted, "BJP version of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao in BHU".

The criticism faced by the PM over the violence and insensitive treatment meted out to women students, who were protesting over a delicate issue like eve-teasing in the BHU, showcases the systematic failure of the BJP governments--both at the Centre and in the state--to provide free, fair and rightful place to women in India that takes great pride in big campaigns like, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.

OneIndia News