SHILLONG: The newly appointed General Secretary of the All India Mahila Congress (AIMC), Lhingkim Haokip, on Wednesday, launched a blistering attack on the BJP-led Central Government, accusing it of pursuing policies that are fundamentally anti-women despite projecting an image of empowerment.
Addressing a press conference in Shillong, Haokip alleged that the Modi Government has “systematically weakened women’s rights” and pushed millions of women into deeper economic insecurity. She claimed that behind glossy slogans lies a grim reality of rising poverty, unemployment, and shrinking social protection for women across the country.
Dismissing the Centre’s flagship ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign as mere rhetoric, Haokip said true empowerment cannot exist without food security, employment, and safety.
“The government uses big slogans to mislead people, but its policies are making women poorer and stripping them of financial independence,” she said.
She asserted that the Congress Party’s vision of women’s empowerment rests on three non-negotiable pillars: Roti, Rozgar aur Suraksha.
Haokip highlighted three critical areas where, according to her, the Modi Government has failed Indian women. She said, rising prices of essential commodities have severely impacted household budgets, placing an unfair burden on homemakers, key social welfare and livelihood schemes have allegedly seen reduced coverage and funding and record joblessness, particularly among women, has eroded economic security and dignity.
The AIMC leader strongly defended the MGNREGA, calling it the “economic backbone of rural and tribal women.” She accused the Centre of attempting to dilute the Act, which was enacted during the Congress-led UPA government as a legal right, not a discretionary scheme.
“MGNREGA is a right, not charity. Any attempt to weaken it is a direct assault on the dignity of rural workers and the poorest of the poor,” Haokip asserted.
The AIMC placed the following demands before the Central Government — immediate clearance of all pending MGNREGA wages, a substantial increase in budgetary allocation for rural employment and a firm legal assurance that the MGNREGA Act will not be diluted or amended.
Warning that the issue will not remain confined to press conferences, Haokip announced a nationwide agitation to mobilise women at the grassroots level. The Mahila Congress plans to take its protests from village squares to city streets and ultimately to Parliament, vowing to continue the fight until the rights, dignity, and security of Indian women are protected.
