India has never imposed restrictions on women: Rajnath

Contending that India has never imposed restrictions on women, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said women like Maharani Lakshmibai should be brought out of the pages of history and made an inspiration for the new generation.
Speaking at Delhi Police's 'Say No To Fear' event where nearly 5,000 girls, who had received self-defence training from the force, displayed their skills here on the occasion of International Women's Day, Singh turned nostalgic for a while as he gave credit for his success to his mother and wife.
He maintained that no man is ever complete without women and comprehensive development of a man is only possible with the help of his mother, wife, sister and daughter.

"I feel that through this self-defence training programme, we can nurture self-confidence among all girls," he said and appreciated Delhi Police's efforts to impart defence skills to nearly 26 thousand women within a year.
The Home Minister said India has had a tradition where man always bows before women power. "Even while taking the names of our gods, we first take the names of goddesses and then the God is complete," he said.
"Women have played an important role whether it is in the freedom struggle or in the field of knowledge. I feel that women who have done excellent work in the past, we should pick them out of pages of history and teach that to our children," he said.

"We have never imposed any restriction on our women... If that would have been the case Maharani Lakshmibai might have not taken part in the freedom struggle with her newborn kid tied to her back," he said.

Singh also quoted United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's statement where he had said, "When we unleash the power of women, we can secure the future of all".
The event which was organised by North district of Delhi Police saw girls displaying their newly-acquired self-defence tracks amid loud cheers by a packed house of thousands of girls at Delhi University's indoor stadium.
The Home Minister congratulated Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi and his officers and appreciated the work of Chief Instructor Shiv Kumar and women SI Kiran Sethi - both of whom are black belt - for their untiring efforts in training women and girls from various schools and colleges.