K.R. Gouri, Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) founder leader and general secretary, has called upon the government to take measures to ensure women’s safety.
Addressing the annual meeting of the party here on Friday, she said atrocities against women had gone up over the years.
She said political activity should be considered as an opportunity to work for social welfare. Politics is not intended to make personal gains. Many issues were confronting society. Price rise and inadequate food supply were among them. But the first and foremost problem related to insecurity among women.
The nonagenarian leader recalled that as a young woman in her twenties, she could walk fearlessly even at midnight. “As a young lawyer at the age of 24, I had walked all alone amidst vast stretches of paddy fields in Alappuzha around midnight, on my way back home after work. None dared to attack me. Today, it has become difficult for a sari-clad woman to walk alone on the road without fear even during daytime. It seems the prophecy on Kaliyug mentioned in epics has come true,” she said.
While admitting that the JSS was not a large party, she said the party’s support had played a key role in ensuring a decisive victory for the LDF in the previous Assembly elections. “The UDF and LDF are generally neck and neck in respect of their strength. The LDF got a massive victory due to the support extended by the JSS after the party had decided to move out of UDF fold,” she said.
Pointing out that the party had been a strong force for many years after its formation in 1994, she said it had faced good and bad times later.
There was need to strengthen the party, she said, and urged the party members to work towards achieving it.
The two-day meeting will discuss various social and political issues. About 300 delegates of the party from various districts are attending the meeting.