Bhubaneswar: BJD president Naveen Patnaik Friday alleged that women were not safe under the BJP rule in Odisha, and said the state government should take proactive steps to ensure their safety.
“While the government delivers long speeches on women’s safety and law and order, the ground reality is extremely alarming. Even in broad daylight, an atmosphere of fear prevails,” the former CM said in a post on X.
The BJP government’s “failure” to take any exemplary and stringent action is “emboldening criminals”, he alleged.
“How many more innocent lives will be lost? From underage girls to differently-abled young women, no one is safe. So, is the rule of law still in place in the state?”
“The news of rape coming from Kanhia in Angul district, Kuchinda in Sambalpur, and the Paradip area in Jagatsinghpur is deeply disturbing. Misrule prevails everywhere… women and girls are insecure all around,” Patnaik wrote.
The Odisha government should take proactive steps to spread widespread awareness on women’s safety and ensure the rule of law is upheld in the state, he said.