Even as the opposition parties in Maharashtra have objected to the state government’s proposal to use “Ganga Bhagirathi” word to refer to widows in a bid to offer them respect, the chief of the state women’s commission has welcomed the move, saying it would help empower women.
Chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW), Rupali Chakankar, thanked state Women and Child Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha for the proposal.
Chakankar’s statement comes even as her Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) colleague and MP Supriya Sule criticised the government’s move and asked the minister to withdraw the proposal.
Lodha, in a letter written on Wednesday to his department’s principal secretary, has proposed the use of the word “Ganga Bhagirathi” to refer to widows in a bid to offer them respect. The proposal, however, drew flak from the Congress and the NCP, following which the minister issued a video statement, in which he said the move was only under consideration and no action has been taken in this direction.
Taking to Twitter, MSCW chairperson Chakankar said, “‘I thank Women and Child Development Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha for this move. The decision taken by progressive Maharashtra will help in empowering women.” Chankankar said the state women’s commission had asked the government to find a respectable word to refer to women after the death of their husbands.
“The word ‘widow’ is disrespectful to women. The commission had recommended to the government to use the word “Purnangi” to refer to widows. The government considered the recommendation sensitively and took a positive decision, for which I congratulate the minister,” she said in a series of tweets.
Earlier, the Congress slammed Lodha and sought his apology, while several social activists said the need of the hour was to undertake measures for equal rights and social safety for women rather than such “superficial and unwarranted decisions”.
