Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani called on women in Bihar to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming state assembly elections.
Irani encouraged the party's women cadre in Patna to start working on booth-level in the run-up to the November 2015 polls.
Addressing the meet, Irani hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for consistently working towards the welfare of women, while launching a scathing attack on opposition parties.
She also launched a blistering attack on the 'Janata family' comprising six regional parties including RJD, Samajwadi Party (SP), Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), Janata Dal (Secular) and Janata Dal (United).
"Could the residents of this state have ever thought that such people will come together who will bring jungle rule-2? Therefore, I have come here to ask all the women workers here to take a pledge to identify all women voters across booths, get them to the voting booths to vote for BJP," Irani said.
Irani also criticised the Congress party for its double standards.
"Could anyone imagine that the Congress-led government at the Centre would say no to a university in the name of Mahatma Gandhi that the citizens of Bihar wanted to build? Every time there were elections Congress would use the name of Mahatma Gandhi, but when time came to pay a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi by building a university in his name, they said 'no'," she added.
Irani further appealed to women to be BJP's charioteer in the upcoming elections, claiming that her party was the only one which could cater to the socio-economic empowerment of women in the state.
She touched upon the issue of rising crime against women in India and said that she was shocked to read the findings of a research by a television channel which said that 45 per cent rape cases took place when women went out of their homes to relieve themselves.
The Minister also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for initiating the ambitious 'Clean India campaign' as a part of which he wants every home and school to have access to a toilet by 2019, in time for the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth.
