Women’s Day: Some women activists call PM’s gesture amazing, others say it’s attention seeking move

PTI, Mar 8, 2020, 1:47 PM IST

New Delhi: Some women activists saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to hand over his social media accounts to women as an “amazing initiative” to honour “real and not reel” women, while others called it attention seeking move aimed to divert attention from issues plaguing the country. On the occasion of women’s day, Modi said “seven women achievers” will share their life journey through his social media accounts on Sunday. Activist Monica Arora, who is the national convenor of Group of Intellectuals and Academicians, called it a move to honour the “real woman” who is “serving humanity” on the ground. “The selection of women has been amazing. A girl who has only 2000 followers on social media was chosen but she has been running a food bank for more than five years and feeding thousands and thousands of people. So the prime minister is honouring real woman and not reel women,” she said. She said these were the women who were making a difference and serving humanity on the ground and added that the selection has been amazing. “Another woman is a bomb blast survivor. She is such a motivation. She is a person making a difference in the world. It shows you are making a difference to the world in whatever capacity you can that empowers women irrespective of caste or religion or age. It is very good,” Arora said.

Shilpa Puranik, member of NGO Bhartiya Srishakti said social media brings different kinds of people together which make it a good platform to spread awareness and that is what the prime minister did by handing over his social media platforms to inspirational women. “I appreciate his decision because it is important to create awareness on social media about women empowerment,” she said. However, some activist called it an “attention-seeking” move through which he wants to distract people from issues plaguing the country.

Rights activist and CPI leader Annie Raja said that if the prime minister is truly concerned about women empowerment, he should take steps against the rising cases of sexual harassment and abuse.

“He should announce that the women reservation bill has been passed on Women’s Day. It is a distraction from talking about real issues. He should realise women would not be fooled,” she said.

Shabnam Hashmi, women rights activist and founder of NGO Act Now for Harmony and Democracy, called it a “drama” and said women’s condition has worsened under his government. “It is all a new drama. There are lakhs of women who have lost their jobs. It is an attention-seeking move because you can’t answer what is happening in the country. Women have become much worse off then what they were six years ago,” she said.