Govt only responds under pressure: Rahul urges Gen Z to protest for women's safety

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday called for an overhaul of a system that, he said, "blames the victim and shields the criminal". He urged young people to protest against harassment and rape, saying governments act only when they face public pressure.In a post on X and a video message, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said women across the country were afraid to walk the streets. He said the answer was not to confine women to their homes, but to make streets safe, confront the mindset of men who mistreat women, and punish attackers swiftly and without exception."

Stop punishing women for the crimes committed against them. Across our country, women are afraid to walk the streets, afraid of being harassed, afraid of being raped. And the government's answer: stay at home. This is patriarchy at work: a system that blames the victim and shields the criminal. It is time to smash it," Gandhi said.He also backed protests over women's safety and appealed to more young people to join them."

Thousands of students and young people are on the streets demanding safety for women. I urge even more young women, especially Gen Z across India, to come out in stronger numbers. This government is deaf to your pain and will only listen when it's under pressure," he said.He added, "Peaceful protest is your democratic right, and I stand with you wholeheartedly." Gandhi also posted a video carrying the message, "Stop harassing women!"

In the video, Gandhi said a woman had nothing to do with an attack on her and nothing to do with rape, and that the perpetrator was the criminal who should be punished. Referring to the rape of a 16-year-old girl near a park in South Delhi, he said a woman goes for a walk in a park near LSR and she is raped." What is the reaction? The reaction is to stop women from going to parks at night. This is completely insane. Get this out of your mind that women are to be punished, penalised, because someone is attacking them and raping them," he said.He said reports of rape appear every day in newspapers and on social media, citing cases in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, and argued that restricting women after such crimes was "completely the wrong reaction".

Repeating his appeal, Gandhi said, "Stop harassing women; leave them alone. Start punishing the people who are doing the crime. Start changing the mentality of the people who do the crime. Start changing the mentality of the men who mistreat women. And any woman or man who is protesting these crimes, I stand with you; I support you. This is absolutely unacceptable."- Ends