Bhopal |Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday reached out to women in the BJP-ruled state by launching a scheme to provide Rs 1,000 monthly aid and slammed the previous Congress government for "stopping" welfare measures meant for women, months ahead of the Assembly polls.
Chouhan, who celebrated his 65th birthday on Sunday, appealed to women to continue to support the state government and listed various schemes launched for their welfare.
Addressing a gathering of women at Jamboree Maidan in the MP capital, the chief minister knelt before the audience with folded hands and said, "Pranam and Namaskar... you mean Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati to me", and announced that "Ladli Behna Sena" will be formed to straighten wrongdoers.
He rolled out the 'Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana' by unveiling the plaque of the scheme with remote control and filling out an application form for a woman.
Chouhan said the idea of 'Ladli Behna Yojana' for women's empowerment struck him at 4 am one day, which he shared with his wife. The chief minister recalled he had witnessed the discrimination between the boy and girl child in society and families and was pained at it.
He said when he became an MLA and MP, he got women of poor families married, but the number of such marriages was not too big.
Chouhan said he rolled out 'Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana' (under which the government provides financial help to married couples intending to end the dowry menace) after he became the chief minister (in November 2005), and the Ladli Laxmi Yojana for the girl child to turn her "lakhpati".
The chief minister said the state government has decided to close down the 'ahatas' (dingy liquor bars near booze outlets) to ensure that women are not harassed.
Citing the law enacted earlier by the state government, Chouhan said rapists will be hanged.
He asked the audience whether they think that their brother (Chouhan) is doing good work, to which the women replied "yes".
A buyer selects face masks at a shop ahead of Holi festival in Indore on Sunday.
