Congress Launches ‘Laapataa Ladies’ Campaign, Targets Maharashtra Govt on Women’s Safety

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 1st Oct. As the Maharashtra assembly election draws closer, the Congress has launched the ‘Laapataa Ladies’ campaign, directly targeting the state government over its handling of women’s safety. Inspired by Kiran Rao’s movie Laapataa Ladies, the campaign criticizes Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s government with the alarming claim that “64,000 women are missing in a year.”

Posters, now visible across the state, feature the words ‘Laapataa Ladies’ alongside silhouettes resembling CM Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis, and Ajit Pawar. The Congress is using these visuals to highlight the government’s poor track record on women’s safety, with a particular focus on Mr. Fadnavis, who oversees the Home portfolio. The campaign follows a recent incident involving the sexual abuse of two schoolgirls in Badlapur, Maharashtra.

Mr. Fadnavis had earlier addressed the issue of missing women in the state. Speaking in the Assembly last year, he noted that about 64,000 women go missing in Maharashtra annually, with around 10% not returning home. He assured the Assembly that efforts were being made to improve this number, citing a return rate of 86% for missing girls and women in 2022.

However, the Congress has latched onto these figures to question the government’s efforts in ensuring women’s safety. In response, the state government recently announced the ‘Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana,’ a welfare scheme providing ₹1,500 monthly to women aged 21-65 from families earning less than ₹2.5 lakh annually. The scheme is seen as a bid to secure women voters’ support ahead of the election.

This election will witness a tough contest between the ruling coalition of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction, and the Opposition alliance comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. In the previous Lok Sabha election, the Opposition bloc performed well, securing 30 out of Maharashtra’s 48 seats, positioning themselves strongly for the upcoming assembly race.