Patna: Claiming that a large turnout of women voters in the first phase of Bihar Assembly polls bodes well for the NDA's electoral fortunes, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday appealed to women to turn up in even larger numbers in the subsequent phases for ensuring a change of guard in the state for development and progress.
"I sincerely thank the women for turning up in large numbers for voting in the first phase of Bihar Assembly polls for that explains their craving for development and change. I appeal to them to exercise their franchise in even larger numbers in the remaining phases of the polls to ensure a change of guard in the state," she told reporters here.
"I am sure you (women) don't want a spectre of jungle raj to grip Bihar again," Irani said and promised that the BJP-led NDA government will ensure development and progress, which has eluded the state for a long time.
Wooing the women voters, the Union HRD Minister quoted the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to hit out at the Nitish Kumar government for deterioration in law and order situation in Bihar and said that rape cases had surged by 25 per cent between 2012-14.
Outlining the Centre's commitments for empowerment of women, she said that the Centre has kept pace with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expectations by constructing toilets in government schools for benefit of girl students even as 30
lakh people have surrendered subsidized cooking gas connection so that women in rural areas can get LPG cooking gas cylinder at subsidised rate and stop using fuel wood for cooking.
About Bihar-specific steps taken by her ministry, Irani said that the NDA government has fulfilled its commitment to name the central university in Motihari after Mahatma Gandhi, a demand that the UPA government had rejected.
The IIM at Bodh Gaya, which was sanctioned by the Centre earlier this year, has already started academic activities, the Union HRD Minister said, adding that the Mudra Bank has already started functioning to provide for loans to the youths for self employment venture.
"We have capabilities to fulfil aspirations of the youths," she said and exhorted the people of Bihar to vote for the NDA to change the possibilities of development into a reality over the next five years.
On the return of Sahitya Akademi award by a number of writers alleging an atmosphere of intolerance in the country under the NDA rule, she refused to comment saying that she was here to campaign for her party for the Assembly polls.
