Yogi to spearhead BJP campaign against ‘anti-women’ oppn

Lucknow: BJP has moved swiftly to turn the setback over the Women’s Reservation Bill into a political opportunity by launching an intense campaign, mobilising its women’s organisational network to target the Opposition as ‘anti-women’.As part of the strategy, chief minister Yogi Adityanath will personally take charge of the campaign and lead the protest in Lucknow on Tuesday with a foot march from his 5 Kalidas Marg residence to the Vidhan Bhawan. He will be joined by his deputies, Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, UP BJP chief Pankaj Chaudhary and senior party functionaries. Women ministers, MPs, MLAs will also participate.Under CM’s directions, a large-scale public awareness campaign in support of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam will be conducted across the state. Through this campaign, the opposition will be directly challenged among the public.It has also been decided that women’s reservation will be presented as the ‘right of half the population.’ For this purpose, a series of programmes will be conducted from block levels to district headquarters. Women’s groups, self-help groups, and various social organizations will be mobilized to turn this campaign into a mass movement.CM Yogi Adityanath will send a clear message that women’s empowerment is a priority for the double-engine govt. Through rallies, public meetings, and dialogue programmes, the “true face” of the opposition will be exposed before the public.The party has planned protests at the regional, district and mandal levels across Uttar Pradesh. BJP demarcates UP into six regions, 98 organisational districts and 1,918 mandals.BJP govt is also considering a special session of UP Assembly on April 30 to sharpen the issue further. Sources said the party plans to deploy its women MLAs to mount an attack on the Opposition over the bill.The state unit has directed UP BJP Mahila Morcha to mobilise cadres extensively. The Morcha state secretary Rama Singh said demonstrations would initially be held at key centres in the party’s six organisational regions — West UP, Braj, Awadh, Kanpur, Kashi and Gorakhpur. In the first phase, they are being planned in Lucknow and Varanasi.“These protests will subsequently be taken to district and mandal levels. The idea is to expose the Opposition’s anti-women stance at the grassroots,” Singh said.Party sources said the protests are aimed at achieving four objectives: keeping the issue alive in public discourse, exerting moral pressure on Opposition parties, projecting the BJP as the only party committed to women’s political empowerment, and energising workers after the legislative setback.Political observers said the developments in Uttar Pradesh carry added significance as the state sends the highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha and remains central to the BJP’s national electoral strategy. Women voters, they noted, have emerged as a decisive constituency in recent elections, aided by the BJP’s emphasis on an array of women-centric welfare schemes.