By IANS
Mumbai : Nearly a dozen women’s organisations here will take up the issue of women’s safety and the cause of north Indians targeted by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to mark International Women’s Day March 8.
The organisations will take out a procession here Saturday to emphasise that north Indians have the right to live and work anywhere in the country.
The groups have been coming together to hold the annual procession to highlight issues of women’s rights for the past two decades. This time they thought of crusading for the rights of north Indians as well due to the violence against them by the MNS in February.
Organisations like the All India Democratic Association for Women, Akshara Foundation, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre For Women, Stree Mukti Sanghatan, Bhartiya Mahila Federation, Women’s Health and Right Advocacy Partnership (WHRAP) and India Centre for Human Rights and Law (ICHRL) will participate in the rally.
“These women’s organisations played a key role in the recent launch of the help line number for women after the New Year’s Eve incident where two NRI women were molested outside a posh hotel.” Nandita Shah, co-director of the Akshara Foundation, told IANS.
The march will commence at Churchgate and will end about two kilometres away at Victoria Terminus.
Soniya Gill, president of the All India Democratic Association for Women, said: “We shall also focus at the lack of public and private spaces for women in Mumbai and the increasing regional chauvinism propagated by political parties for gaining political mileage.”