Policies pursued by BJP has rendered J&K Women vulnerable: Shameema Firdous

Srinagar, 21 Mar (RNA) : The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference women's wing State President Shameema Firdous on Thursday exhorted the wing's functionaries to scale up its strategy by working on mass-scale worker and voter mobilisation across Kashmir. This she said while presiding over the Women's Wing Provincial Committee Meeting at the party headquarters Nawa-e-Subha, Srinagar. Women's Wing Provincial President Er. Sabiya Qadri also addressed the functionaries on the occasion. She said, "The women's wing is reaching out to women folk with a massive outreach programme to establish a deeper connection with women voters across Jammu and Kashmir through the party's local unit functionaries. We will ensure that not even a single woman is left behind without supporting the NC." She further added, "For all the talk that BJP does on empowering women through various schemes, the outcome has been very different. The skating inflation, poor medical facilities, discontinuation of pension under various social welfare schemes, decrease in the ration quota and sluggish recruitment has rendered our mothers and sisters extremely vulnerable. They are ready to punish BJP & its cronies through the use of ballots." Despite being the backbone of the J&K's healthcare system, ASHA workers continue to wait for the recognition they deserve, she said, "This speaks volumes about the importance being given by the BJP government to the welfare of women in J&K. Our mothers and sisters are made to wait for 5 kg of rice at ration depots. They are hiking the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas, electricity and other essential commodities, and are not increasing the salaries of contractual and need based workers. They are pruning the funds meant for ASHA, Anganwadi and Midday Meal workers. Pension of elderly ladies is being withheld. Our mothers & sisters will not allow the opportunity to go to waste, they have made it a point to punish BJP for its anti women policies." The upcoming elections, Er. Sabiya Qadri said provide us a chance to show our rejection for the actions of 5 August 2019. "We should grab this opportunity and tell the country and the world that those actions are not acceptable to us and we are ready to fight a long battle for the restoration of what was snatched from us. These elections lend us an opportunity to secure our children's future, their scholarships, jobs; these elections provide us an opportunity to secure our natural resources for our people," she said.