Ajmer, June 14: Asserting that her party wanted greater participation of women in power, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today attacked Vajpayee government saying it failed to take necessary measures regarding this in Parliament. "Full participation of women in power was needed for the all round development of the country and the congress had been the biggest votary of it. But the BJP had failed the women," Gandhi said while addressing a conference on women's empowerment here.
Women's issues concerned the whole of the country and if any government or the society extended any benefit to them, it did not mean that they were obliging them, she said. Expressing concern over the male female ratio tilted against women, she said it was unfortunate that preference for male child was more evident in the states that were economically better off.
She stressed the need for taking measures for reducing the incidents of persecution and harassment of women. Any incident of woman's harassment anywhere in the country is painful, she said. The Congress president called for stopping all kinds of discrimination with women in education and health services because half of the country's population consisted of women. Bureau Report