Rahul Gandhi pushes for more women leaders in Congress; 50% women chief ministers within 10 years
Kochi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday that the party should actively promote women within its organisational structure and set a target to have 50 per cent of women as chief ministers within the next 10 years.
Inaugurating 'Utsaah,' a Kerala Mahila Congress convention here, the Wayanad MP said there are numerous women leaders in his party who possess the qualities necessary to become chief ministers.
"Earlier, I was discussing what would be a good target for us to try and achieve, and I thought a good target for the Congress party would be that in 10 years from today, 50 per cent of our chief ministers are women.
"Today, we don't have a single woman chief minister. But I know there are many women in the Congress party who have the qualities to be very good chief ministers," Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also attacked the RSS and said the saffron party was "purely a male organisation".
"I think women are superior to men in many ways. They have more patience than men. They have longer-term vision than men. They are more sensitive and compassionate than men. We fundamentally believe that women should be part of the power structure," Gandhi said, alleging that including women is not part of the ideology of the RSS.
He said that in the entire history of the RSS, it has not allowed women into its ranks.
The former Congress president also said that the fundamental fight between the RSS and the Congress is about the role women should play in Indian politics.
He criticised the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for putting on hold the implementation of the Women's Reservation Bill despite receiving approval from Parliament.
The Bill, aimed at reserving one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, had obtained parliamentary approval in September.
"I have never seen any Bill passed in Parliament where it will be implemented a decade later. The only Bill that the BJP is implementing after 10 years is the one that has to do with women's power," Gandhi said.
He also referred to certain alleged statements of certain right-wing leaders saying a girl would not have been raped if she had dressed properly.
"This is an insult to every single woman in this country. It is turning the victim into the villain. This is the difference between us and the RSS," he said.
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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
