As the government’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ initiative completed 10 years, the Congress on Wednesday accused the BJP of hypocrisy and asked why did the ruling party adopt a policy of ‘save the criminals’ instead of “save the daughters’.

‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ (BBBP) was launched by the prime minister on January 22, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana. BBBP addresses the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of women empowerment over a life-cycle continuum.

In a post in Hindi on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Ten years of Beti Bachao, our three questions to Modi ji — Why did the BJP adopt the policy of ‘save the criminals’ instead of ‘save the daughters’? When will the women of Manipur get justice? Whether it is the Dalit daughter of Hathras or the daughter of Unnao, or our champion female wrestler, why has the BJP always protected criminals?” Why are 43 crimes against women recorded every hour in the country, Kharge asked.

“Every day 22 crimes are registered against women and children of the most vulnerable Dalit-tribal class of our country. Modi ji has spoken about women’s safety many times in his speeches from the Red Fort, but why is there a difference between his words and actions?” the Congress president said.

What is the reason that till 2019, nearly 80 per cent of the total amount allocated for the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme was spent only on media advertising, he asked.

“When this fact was exposed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, the funds used for the scheme were cut by a massive 63 percent between 2018-19 and 2022-23, and later by merging it with a scheme called ‘Sambal’ under ‘Mission Shakti’, the Modi government stopped providing the data spent on the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ scheme,” he said.

There has also been a 30 per cent reduction in the funds allocated and the funds used for ‘Sambal’ in 2023-24, he alleged and asked what did the government want to hide by this “manipulation” of data.

Will sticking “Beti Bachao” on the back of every truck or painting it on every wall stop crimes against women, provide employment opportunities to them, give them better health facilities or give women justice after atrocities, Kharge asked.

“The BJP’s hollow advertisement of ‘Enough of attacks on women’ shows its utter hypocrisy after 10 years!” he said.