Overwhelming support for Congress signature campaign for justice to Unnao rape survivor

The signature campaign launched by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee to mobilise support for justice for Unnao rape survivor gained tremendous support as young and old joined signed the big boards across the state with one resolution that the girl should get justice.

The campaign was launched on August 3 and will continue till August 6 on the directives of Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. The campaign was such a success on very first day that Priyanka appreciated the young girls and tweeted to say: Thank you all the girls from Lucknow for coming out so strongly in support of #Unnao ki Beti. If all of us stand together, we can force those who empower rapists and criminals into consciousness and change. #Enough is enough.”

Big boards were put up at important junctions across the state which read “Unnao ki Beti ko Nyay dilane ke liye Hastakshar Abhiyan” where the girls were asked to put their signature in support of Unnao rape survivor. “The response was swift. The girls came impromptu and signed the board. Their reaction was manifestation of their anger against the present system where girls feels they are not safe,” Congress lawmaker Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ said.

She said being a woman she can relate to the anger of the girls the way BJP Government is protecting accused MLA who tried to kill the rape survivor. “They are angry at the present system where the ruling party is bending backwards to protect the rape accused. This is unfortunate because the behavior of the government puts a big question mark on BJP’s Beti bachao, beti padhao campaign,” she said.

The reaction of the girls justifies her observation. Rashmi Sehgal, a student of IT college in Lucknow said:  “Bus bahut ho gaya atyachar. Ab hum log yeh nahi sahenge. Ab hume Justice chahiye. Enough”.

But the most caustic reaction came from Dr Vandana Kaushik, a Teacher in Mahila college who said: “There is not much to say. I will just say enough is enough. Time has come when parents would not want to have a girl child. Because we always tell our daughter do this do not do that, and behave in a certain manner, but who will tell the boys not to behave in a certain manner….then we talk about bad man like Ravan. But Ravan was much better than present day men because he captured Sita but did not touch her without her consent, but now Ravan must be ashamed of men we are producing in the society”.

Some girls even advocated formation of new law and their strict implementation so that the crime against women could come to an end the criminals could get punishment.

In Lucknow such boards were put up at almost 20 places and the statewide such boards were put up at around 1,200 places. “The response was tremendous. At many places we were forced to provide new boards as there was no space left on the first one,” said Piyush Mishra, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman.

On the first day over 10,000 girls signed the boards in Lucknow itself. “We have asked for the figures from other parts of the state. I am sure not less than 5 lakh people signed the board in the first day. Mind you, majority of the signatories were girls. This shows the anger among the girl against this government,” said Congress Legislature party leader Ajay Kumar Lalu.